Monthly Archives: April 2006

There’s another article about those "racy, racy books" (like mine!) in Newsday today.  Link to Article

It’s interesting how MTV is elbowing into the literary market that they feel they ‘created’. If I can just add my two cents, it’s not just about putting sex scenes together and throwing brand names around, whenever I write a love scene, I always ‘feel’ it as much as the characters do, and I *believe* their emotions and their excitement, to me, it’s very real, which I think is why readers like my books… And I do such a huge fashion edit on my books to make sure everything is the hottest and coolest and something I own/wear or my fabulous friends own/wear.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny story… yesterday morning, Mike and I were watching TV, and the preview ad for Oprah came on… she had Terry McMillan on, the writer who wrote "How Stella Got her Groove back" whose husband (who was the inspiration for the guy who gave her her groove back) came out recently as gay. It was a big scandal, and she was very humiliated.

Anyway, the ad showed Oprah, looking all mad and stern, saying, "How could you keep this a SECRET from your wife??? How could you do this??" and then the camera pans to Terry McMillan, looking SO PISSED OFF, and totally indignant, saying "How could you KEEP this from me???"

And then, the camera pans to the ex-husband…. WHO IS THE GAYEST GUY I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!

Mike and i just doubled up in laughter. I mean, what secret was he keeping??? Anyone who saw this guy would think he was gay in a nanosecond!!

It was just truly hilarious….

Oprah and Terry McMillan just looked so ridiculous.

I mean, it was like if the camera panned to…Carson Kressley being accused of keeping his gayness secret! I’m sorry, but he was just that gay.

I don’t mean to belittle McMillan’s pain, at all–I can imagine how hurtful that would be. But sometimes, people, you just need a CLUE!

I have BEEN there. I was once so IN LOVE with my gay best friend I couldn’t see straight. (Pun definitely intended.) And all my girlfriends were like, "But Mel, he’s… gay!!" (He wasn’t out yet then.) I just refused to see what was right in front of me…

I think perhaps Ms. McMillan did the same… so I am sad for her, that she went through the whole relationship and divorce and heartache…

So many of my best friends are gay, and they were even the ones who told me the guy I was in love with was gay, but I refused to believe them…

But at least, for me, I didn’t lose my marriage, or money, just a few years of college, which are wasted anyway right?

And yes, the guy I was in love with came out the day before graduation, and we remained friends for a long time after that.

Maybe McMillan’s ex is more flamboyant now, or more "out" but..there was just something about the fraudulence of it–the stern indignation of Oprah and McMillan that just looked so off-base.

There’s keeping secrets, and there’s determined blindness.

Let’s keep our eyes open! Have a great day everyone.

xoxo
Mel

One of my Myspace friends and fellow authors Jennifer Lynn Barnes (her novel “GOLDEN” comes out this July – check it out!) recently reviewed Blue Bloods in her blog…

Here’s what she says about it:

“BLUE BLOODS by Melissa de la Cruz: I haven’t enjoyed a vampire story this much since TWILIGHT. And yeah, I know Twilight was only last summer, but still. The beautiful thing about Blue Bloods, which I’d originally pegged as Gossip Girl with Fangs, is that it manages to do something really unique with the vampire genre. Most of the vampire books I’ve read (and they are numerous) fall either in the category of scarier thriller types that tend to bit a little more literary (Peeps, Thirsty, and to some degree, Twilight) or they’re straight up chick lit set against the back drop of the high school world, with normal teenage concerns reigning supreme along with more fangy dangers. Blue Bloods doesn’t really fit into either of these categories. It’s set against the backdrop of upper crust NYC, but the setting doesn’t feel gimmicky, and best of all, it’s motivated. The back story that de la Cruz invents (that the original pilgrims were vampires who came to the new world for a fresh start) and the setting she chooses (high society New York) are connected- many of the socialites can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. The logic of that connection alone makes the whole story somehow more believable than most vampire books. The vampire mythology used in this one is different than what I’ve seen elsewhere, too, and there are some great twists. All in all, a great read- I highly recommend it.”

Yay!!!! Thanks Jen!!!! You totally rock!

More fun stuff that happened today…

My baby brother (who is 26) emailed me to say he found my website and blog! And he said, how come he has to find out about my stuff through Amazon? I have been too busy to tell my family and close friends about my blog/website and it’s kind of funny to think of people who know me (too) well reading my public “journal”. Because the “online” persona isn’t quite the same as the “real” face we show our loved ones is it?

I also got a little worried because now my parents know exactly how much I spend on clothes. Ack!

Other fun things I forgot to share…

When the Naomi Wolf article/rant against the Gossip Girl books came out a couple of weeks ago, I got several excited and very happy emails from my sister and several close friends, which all went something like this: “YOUR BOOKS WERE MENTIONED IN THE TIMES!!!!!”

The article mentioned The Au Pair books in passing, and this one tiny mention in a very negative article slamming the whole genre, in the paper of record, was enough to make those nearest and dearest to me very excited for my career. I love that!

All publicity is good publicity…

Which is weird because a couple of years ago my book THE FASHIONISTA FILES was reviewed in the “Books of Style” section in the Times’ Sunday Styles and I got not one call or email about it, I don’t think anyone even saw it…Huh!

Well, it’s Saturday and I’m just procrastinating working on ANGELS so I should sign off now and work on it.

xoxo
Mel