It's All in the Name...

I learned yesterday that the title and cover of my second book, formerly known as Same Time Sunday, will be changing so I took it off the sidebar of the blog for now. I thought I was going to get lucky with two books published under the names I gave them. But since the name and the cover are so critical to selling the book, I will hope for a great name and cover to give the book the best possible chance for success. That's Zen Marie talking there. She's pretty evolved, isn't she? I'll let you know what we come up with for a new name and cover! Stay tuned.

In Entertainment Weekly, I was reading a profile of Meryl Streep, who at 59, is suddenly the most powerful actress in Hollywood—based on box office dollars. In fact, her numbers have been so strong lately thanks to Mama Mia and The Devil Wore Prada, that she has eclipsed many of her male peers, including De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman and Nicholson. I saw Mama Mia and loved it, even Pierce Brosnan's singing. Despite all this success, Streep still receives scathing reviews, and they still hurt. "Acting," she says, "is very satisfying if you can manage to not have your feelings hurt when they don't like you. I haven't really had any breakthroughs in that area. It still hurts my feelings." Interesting to know that Hollywood's biggest female star, the winner of two Oscars and countless nominations, is still hurt by bad reviews. That gives the rest of us who put our hearts and souls out there—to possibly be trounced upon—some comfort in knowing we all feel the same way about critical reviews, no matter how we choose to stretch our creative muscles—and as much as we claim not to read them!

I'm looking forward to a signing this weekend at the Barnes & Noble Power Plant in Baltimore's Inner Harbor with my friends Robin Kaye (Romeo Romeo) and Kendra Leigh Castle (Call of the Highland Moon and Dark Highland Fire). If you're in the Baltimore area this Saturday, come by and see us from 2 - 3:30! I'll post some photos on Sunday.