When Tara Met Blog: February 2007

Q&A with author Farrah Rochon

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I'm proud to announce my second ever guest blogger, this time it's my friend Farrah Rochon who's first book, Deliver Me comes out today. It's also the first African American romantic fiction novel to openly discuss post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. The very sensitive subject was inspired by Farrah's own local observations of the aftermath of Katrina. Deliver Me is a story though of love and rebirth rather than tragedy and is the third book in Dorchester's new African American romance line. You better not have rolled your eyes to the romance part. Romantic fiction accounts for 54.9% of all popular mass-market fiction sold and $1.2 billion in sales each year. Yes, I'm being defensive!

The coolest thing though about Farrah is that she's truly a super sweet person and I've been inspired by her journey to get this book published. Last year, Farrah bravely left her safe job in order to pursue her dreams of becoming a published author despite the risk and her friends encouraging her to leave New Orleans like many others. OK, I'll let her tell the rest in the following Q&A.

How did you begin writing?

Farrah Rochon: The pat answer to this question is usually “I’ve always loved to write”, right? Yeah, well, that doesn’t really apply to me. Writing isn’t something I’ve always had a burning desire to do; however, it is something I’ve always been able to do really well. Writing was always easy for me. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I seriously considered writing a romance novel. By that time, I had rediscovered my love for reading fiction after being sidetracked for a few years by the introduction of Super Mario Brothers during junior high and my early high school years. While studying Psychology during my undergrad years, I thought it would be an exciting challenge to take a few of those voices in my head and give them life. All it took was a pen, notebook, and a professor who believed in my writing ability. The rest, as they say, is history.

Tell me a little about Deliver Me.

Even though it's my first published work of fiction, Deliver Me was actually the fifth manuscript I completed. It is centered around two doctors, Elijah Holmes, a handsome, sexy Ob-gyn who is known as ‘Super Doc’ to his colleagues, and Monica Gardner, a new ER physician who relocates to New Orleans from St. Louis. Monica and Eli butt heads at their first meeting, but soon find themselves working together to save the hospital’s beloved Parenting Center. Deliver Me was originally written pre-Hurricane Katrina, but at the urging of my editor, I changed the book’s setting to post-Katrina New Orleans. The city is almost its own character in the book. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.

What role has the internet played in your writing success?

Was there a world before the internet? I’d hate to go back to those days. The internet has been instrumental to my writing. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that none of this would be happening if not for the internet. Years ago, I started posting on the message board of one of my favorite authors. At the time, I read very little romance authors, but due to all the wonderful recommendations from the other ladies who posted to the board, reading and buying romance novels soon became an obsession. That was over six years ago, and over those years, those ladies have become some of my closest friends, and staunches supporters. They have traveled on this road to publication with me, and there’s just no way I would have a book on the store shelves today without their encouragement. I owe them all so much.

The internet has also been essential in connecting with readers. By posting on my blog and on friendship communities such as MySpace I’ve met a number of exciting new fans from all walks of life. Establishing a strong internet presence has been paramount to my writing. Like I said, I wouldn’t want to live in a world without the internet.

Have your friends and family supported you as a first time author?

Are leaves green? Is the sky blue? Seriously, I don't know what I would have done without my family and friends stepping up to the plate and showering me with tons of love and support. My photographer happens to be one of my best friends who started taking pictures as a hobby when she had her first baby five years ago. When it was time for me to get a website up and running, I called on my uncle, whom I knew would have some kind of connection (he's an NFL coach, who always knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone...) And, when it came to promoting Deliver Me, I was lucky enough to land the most kick-ass publicist on the face of the planet! She has a great mind for marketing and promotion, and more tenacity in her little finger than most people have in their entire body. She also has this really cool blog (hint: you're reading it right now)!

Products of the Month

Monday, February 26, 2007

Schick Intuition Razor

I threw away my normal razor over the summer after receiving a sample razor of Schick Intuition in the mail. I seriously love this all-in-one razor, I get less nicks, it moisturizes better and it makes it a lot easier to shave quickly in the morning. Because soap is built-in around the edge, I haven’t had to buy shaving cream since. It’s also great for when I travel since everything is in one. They also come in different scents--I’m partial to the cucumber melon.

OnGossamer luxury liners
Perfect for when Aunt Flo comes to visit, these are panties (no, I doubt mind using that word) that absorb any wetness, inhibits staining, and controls odor. Now, I don’t have to throw out another pair of ruined Vickies during my monthly visit. I liked how light and silky they feel too. They are available in thong, bikini and high rise at Nordstrom and Saks nationwide for $19. They run a little big and are stretchy so I’d recommend going a size smaller than usual. www.luxuryliner.com

Alterna Hemp Spray Shine
First of all it smells great, so I think I would spray it on my hair even if it didn't also add shine, but luckily it does both. It also doesn't leave any sticky build-up like hair spray, it simply brings out the shine in your hair using hemp seed oil, which is full of natural proteins that promote healthy hair. In fact, Hemp seed oil contains up to 36% of essential proteins to help rebuild lost proteins due to damage. It also helps to moisturize. So following the directions I've been spraying it on my dry hair in the morning and have been happy with the results. It also retails for $19 at salons, but I just found it for $18.60 at Amazon Beauty.

Coworker quote of the week: Give a monkey a typewriter and it will eventually come up with a word (Don't worry that comment wasn't directed at me).

Oscar Oscar

Sunday, February 25, 2007

It's weird knowing that this year when I watch the Oscars, it's actually taking place only 20 miles away. It's also weird that it starts at 5:00 p.m. I'm used to late night viewing parties or when I was really little, struggling to stay awake to hear who won Best Picture as my mom and I lied out on the pull-out coach in the living room, which we only did that one day each year. I remember 17 years ago when I finally stayed up past my mom to see Dances With Wolves win in 1990. First of all, how can 1990 be 17 years ago? Crazy.

Last year I had a chocolate fondue viewing party at my apt in NYC, this year we have a projection screen TV to air the red carpet in true cinema style.

I'm looking forward to seeing Ellen host the awards, she's done the Emmy's, so I'm sure that will help her. I still miss Billy Crystal's song and dance numbers though *sigh*.

Not sure if I mentioned it but I have an Academy Awards tribute page that is in need of updating, but it has some great trivia and information, Tara's Oscar Page. Also if we ever met and you told me your year of birth, 95% of the time I can tell you which film won Best Picture that year :) just one of the many useless party tricks that I have up my sleeve. Enjoy the show.

Ash Wednesday

Thursday, February 22, 2007

To me religion is a personal experience, at least it is for me. But Ash Wednesday is the one time of year that I can't escape wearing my faith on my sleeve, or in this case, forehead. Especially since the ashes I received were so dark this year.

After a client meeting at their offices, I stopped into a church (and the Mamas & The Papas song California Dreamin' which recites similar lines and LA too was playing on the radio just as I was parking, freaky, no?) for the last half of mass and to receive ashes before going back to work to give an educational session on Chris Andersen's economic theory The Long Tail.

As usual, I received a lot of stares in the lobby and in the elevator. I felt like the ashes were making others uncomfortable, or maybe that's how I was feeling. I also got the joke, you have something on your face bit. The last two years getting ashes in NY was worse though, since people would openly stare at me on the streets and subways. Anyway, I'm lucky the Catholic church doesn't require women to wear babushka's and the like, so I think I can deal with the one time of the year that I have to stick out a bit for my faith instead of just celebrating the fun holidays like Christmas.
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Client quote of the week:

"I don't want it to seem like we are putting lipstick on a pig." Um OK, got it, me either! lol

Gate 4 of the WB lot

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I was invited to attend a press screening of the upcoming film The Astronaut Farmer starring Billy Bob Thornton for a review at Film School Rejects. I was also invited to the press day event where I could ask questions to the stars of the film, but it's during the day while I'm at my real job. No matter though, I'm always excited to see films in general, never mind for an advanced showing or for free. In the past, I had been able to see Crash and Little Miss Sunshine before mass audiences this way too and a couple of others.

So last Thursday, after work I headed up to the Valley, which is a big hike from West LA, especially during rush hour. It took a little under two hours to go like what was probably 20 miles total. I took some windey back roads to avoid the highways though and only got lost once when I had to enter someone's HUGE driveway and turn around. When I finally arrived, I was told to pull up to gate 4 and provide security with my details since my name was on their list. Meanwhile, gate 4 is iconic, it leads right to their famous WB water tower shown in their branding, logo and of course in Animaniacs. I started to get a little star struck by the lot itself and it's history. I've been to Sony recently to see a taping of King of Queens, but there's something very old school Hollywood about Warner Bros, as if I could hear the score from Casablanca playing in the distance and Katharine Hepburn peddling a bike past my car. Check-in and parking went smoothly and I snapped a picture of the water tower with my camera figuring it would be too dark to appear correctly but it did.

The theater for the screening was basic and was on the second floor above regular office space, although James Cagney screen shots were framed along the corridors, otherwise you'd think you were about to watch a school lecture. So far the best screening room I've ever been to was at the bottom of the Tribeca Grand Hotel to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (the seats were like LaZ Boys. Anyway, I digress, the event was well attended with press filling the non-elevated theater. I didn't mingle but read the FAQ and materials I was given on the credits and back story of the film. Then the movie started, minus coming attractions and I scrutinized and enjoyed. I originally had no intention of seeing this film in theaters, but was surprised to find that it was quite enjoyable.

You can read my full film review at Film School Rejects--The Astronaut Farmer.

Speaking of films, I also finally NetFlix'd Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which was pretty powerful and interesting, albeit depressing. It's up for Best Documentary at this year's Oscars; I'm rooting for it.

In other Web appearances, check out my little rant on my office's blog about Public Relations is in need of some PR—myths about our field.

Forgive me for I have sinned

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

According to the “Top 10 Sins of blog Usability,” #10 is sending mixed messages. The article by Linda Bustos and sent via SiteProNews reads, "the focus of your blog should be decided before your first post and then committed to. Random blog entries about a melee of topics might work for a personal blog read by friends and family, but is not a good approach for a serious, professional blog. The lifeblood of any blog is in its loyal subscriber base. And readers are more willing to subscribe to blogs that talk about their area of interest on a consistent basis. Or start a separate blog on that topic and cross-link your blogs."

I guess When Tara Met Blog has committed a sin then since my site jumps from being a travel blog to a food blog to whatever I'm doing or liking blog. I guess that’s ok since it’s not technically a professional blog, but I do have a professional degree in writing and my blog has been around for over 2 years with a good deal of traffic and attention, so shouldn’t it be considered a 'professional' blog? It's just one covering unprofessional topics. Anyway, for those who’ve been here before know that although my blog topics can be considered random they do have my personal touch to them. I generally describe my posts as a telling of adventures, mishaps and observations in my life. Enjoy.

Only angels have wings?

Friday, February 16, 2007

Not any longer. The fashion world has angel fever and wings are appearing on clothes, purses and in jewelry.

I've been wanting some wings ever since Jennifer Aniston sported some throughout the film The Break Up. So, I just ordered a very pretty Guardian Angel gold plated necklace ($16.50) and earrings through SimplyMyStyle.com. They also have them in silver, but being Italian I love gold ;)

The founder of SimplyMyStyle, Angela Blair, says The Guardian Angel set is also a favorite of hers. The site has many new jewelry styles at reasonable prices and the personal customer service that I experienced when ordering was really awesome and the set came in a cute plastic Chinese take-out box.

I was sent

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

these lovely flowers, which arrived at my office from my sweetie. They are an assortment of tulips & roses, and have crab apples on sticks and floating at the base of the square vase. Definitely original and eye catching.

This is actually my first ever Valentine's Day that I'm not single. It brings the card giving "friendship" holiday to a new level. When coworker jokingly said she hated my boyfriend when she saw my flowers and another said they loved him. Hehe. I love getting flowers at work. Now I'm crazy flower lady instead of package lady.

We actually had went out for dinner yesterday though at Border Grill, because it was also our one year anniversary since our first date, which works out because we didn't have the dinner crowds due to VDay. Tonight we're chilling at home with some red champagne that we got from our trip to Temecula in December.

I wasn't the only one to get flowers this week though, I sent my mother two dozen assorted roses in a red vase. I only hope they make it to her door in the current bad winter weather on the East coast.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

The pirates life for me

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

My mother’s dream vacation of sailing the virgin islands unfortunately started off with a few hitches. My mom and stepdad arrived two days before us to stock the sailboat with supplies and food, but found the boat had a flood in the engine and generator which needed immediate attention. Not good. My stepdad spent the next three days working hard with an electrician and boat handyman to fix it so we could get up and running. As a result, our sail was delayed two days even after we arrived, but the last five days made up for it and there are worse things than being “grounded” in St. Thomas anyway ;)

Once the boat was up and sailing without worry of a fire or other such difficulties we sailed to a new US and British Virgin Island each of our five remaining days, mooring at Jost Von Dyke, Marina K in Tortola, Norman Island, Peter Island and St. John. We snorkeled almost every day and sometimes even twice, we also went kayaking and did some light hiking and exploring. Once we started sailing though we were probably on land less than 5 hours total our entire trip, since we lived in the water and on the 47 foot boat called We Be Jazzin. Each night it would rain and we’d wake up to close all the hatches on the boat and suffocate until things cleared up which luckily it did each day.

I think I must have picked up a little head cold on our seven+ hour plane ride to Puerto Rico and jump over to St. Thomas though since I had a sore throat and runny nose throughout our trip and even passed it along to my mom and boyfriend near the end. Luckily, being in the warm air and beautiful islands it was hard to stay sick, I only really felt it at night as I tried to sleep.

At Norman Island we re-visited Pirates (formerly Billy Bones), which is a fun bar where everyone writes on the ceilings and walls. Unfortunately my scribblings from 1998 had been painted over with newer graffiti. However, I found a free beam to write/advertise the following:

I wonder if anyone will visit here because of it? I spotted someone else had done the same and wrote stickfiguremusic.com up in the rafters and I just checked it out, so who knows. Would be interesting to have someone spot it and then come to see what I'm about.

Overall I’m rested, tan and had a lovely vacation. I’ve never seen such clear waters or such amazing reefs. Everyone got along well, I held my own in Scrabble competitions (came in 2nd), finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and even got to swim with a turtle. I also bought a big bead necklace that looks like this one offered at Newport News but in red and chunkier like those Hawaiian beans. Here are some photos from the trip:

Crazy package lady

Thursday, February 8, 2007

That's me. Or at least what my coworkers think of me. The reason for this is a combination of four things.

One, it's safer to have packages sent to my work, so I do. Second, I just moved out here and shipped a lot of stuff instead of hiring a cross-country mover and my mom still sends me things that I left back home and am in "dire" need of. Third, I have no problems using my credit card on the internet or ordering from a catalog, thus I'm more likely to buy stuff online then go to an actual store. I even use drugstore.com to order hand soap and once a Swifter Wet Jet. Oh, and I'm also addicted to eBay. Finally, It was just Christmas and my birthday and so my family was sending me stuff too.

All of these reasons account for me receiving at least one package a week, which then causes comments and jokes from my coworkers.

For example, I just bought the following L Shaped Shelves from The Company Store. They are on sale for 50% off. The box it arrived in at my office though was huge, due to all the packaging materials inside. The elevator operator who likes to also point out that I get a lot of stuff sent here, called out that morning that I had a big package waiting upstairs. Thanks. Sometimes he'll deliver my boxes himself and then ask prying questions about my stuff. Grr.

The shelves came with a lot of screws and were a bitch to hang, but I think they look modern-retro in a fun way. Whatcha think?

What friends do

Monday, February 5, 2007

...when you are passed out from drinking half of a key lime martini. hehe I'm sorry K, but I had to. The establishment which served the lethal-to-some drink was the Liquid Kitty on Pico.

Anchors Away

Friday, February 2, 2007

I leave tonight at 11:55 p.m. for the British Virgin Islands on my mom’s dream vacation. A friend of my mom and stepdad’s has so kindly lent us their sailboat for the week, which is docked in St. Thomas. My stepfather is an expert sailor and has done a transatlantic going from Bermuda to Spain in a 30 ft sailboat. He completed the journey in a month, after encountering days with no visible land, 30ft waves and whales playfully nudging his boat. So this sail on a 47 ft sailboat around the islands will truly be a luxury vacation.

My mom so kindly cashed in her miles so that Raphael and I could come along on their cruise. I know, I know, you hate me. I’m not sure which islands we’ll be visiting as of yet, but you know I’ll be reporting back. But don’t worry; I won’t really be MIA for a week, because I’ve already scheduled a couple of posts to go up while I am away. So, it will be like I never left, I’ll just come back tanner and with fun necklaces and photos. Keep a look out on my pre-written posts. See you soon.

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