Earlier this year, I lost my head. While working on deadline to finish Book3, and then to complete edits and revisions, I signed up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I pledged to read 50 books by the end of the year. You can see from the screenshot here, I am failing miserably. Continue reading “My GoodReads Stats Suck & Here’s How I’m Going to Fix Them”
Category: Personal
9 Reasons To Still Love Florida After the Midterms
Things looked so bleak in Florida the morning after the midterms, I wondered whether I would ever again feel joyful about visiting the state. As of the writing of this blog, recounts, even manual recounts, look likely. But the frontrunners as of yesterday morning continued to be Rick Scott for Senate, and Ron DeSantis, the Trump mini-me, for Florida governor. Continue reading “9 Reasons To Still Love Florida After the Midterms”
Inside Story of Confidential, the First Celebrity Scandal Magazine
You probably need to be an octogenarian like my husband, Joe to remember Confidential, the granddaddy of celebrity scandal magazines.
I certainly don’t remember the magazine which had its heyday in the 1950s although I do remember its progeny like Silver Screen, Modern Screen, and Screenland.
These were American fan magazines which I could buy in London way past their publication dates. They were sold in a small, newsagent’s shop in Ealing located on my route home from school (Tube ride from the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith to South Ealing station, then a half-mile walk to my house.) I was 11, and journeyed to school and back on my own. I had plenty of time to linger at magazine racks. Continue reading “Inside Story of Confidential, the First Celebrity Scandal Magazine”
Book Launch Party For “An Untidy Life” Serves Up Golden Memories & Nostalgia
Years and years ago, when Les Hinton, author of An Untidy Life was on the second (maybe, third) rung of the ladder he eventually climbed to the very top of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire, we joked about writing our memoirs. Back then, Les, as president of Murdoch Magazines, had just returned from Paris where he’d met with multi-millionaire Daniel Filipacchi, of Hachette Filipacchi, Murdoch’s French publishing partner.
Les returned with some interesting stories, one of which involved a trip to Filipacchi’s powder room where a small Picasso hung “low on the wall.” It had amused –and worried– Les that the valuable piece of art hung “easily within splashing distance.”
“If I ever write a memoir,” he’d added, “the title will have to be Pissing With Picasso.” Continue reading “Book Launch Party For “An Untidy Life” Serves Up Golden Memories & Nostalgia”
Now That The Summer Folks Have Gone
Now that summer’s over on the East End of Long Island, there’s less traffic, there are parking spots galore, the beaches are deserted (almost); dog lovers can let their pets run at the water’s edge, and you can get a seat at your favorite bar, and a table at your favorite restaurant without a reservation. Continue reading “Now That The Summer Folks Have Gone”