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Manhattan lawyer Brenda Janowitz's debut book Scot on the Rocks (How I Survived My Ex-Boyfriend's Wedding with my Dignity Ever-So-Slightly Intact) was among the Chicklit Club's award winners for 2007. The sequel, Jack with a Twist, is out in June. She also teaches creative writing courses at Mediabistro.
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When I was invited to my ex-boyfriend's wedding, my life slowly but surely began to resemble some of my favorite chick lit novels. After a while, I said to myself, 'I've just gotta start writing this stuff down . . .'
Hell no! Uh, I mean, um, no, I don't think so.
Very! They always say that your first novel is all about you, and in my case, that is very much true. There is so much of me in every part of the book - and not just Brooke. At readings, when I'm asked if Brooke is based on me, I often joke: they are all me! Even that cab driver in the end! He's me, too!!!
The whole process has just been so humbling and surreal. I'm just so thrilled anytime someone buys the book or emails me to tell me that they liked it!
I love, love, LOVE this question! For Brooke, the dream actress would be Drew Barrymore. For Jack, I love Paul Rudd. I also like the idea of making Jack the lead of the film instead of Brooke and going with Adam Sandler or Vince Vaughn. For Vanessa, I like Kerry Washington and for Trip, Ryan Reynolds. For Ava, I love Kelly Hu, and for Trip's mom, it's got to be Holland Taylor.
Alas, no. At the start of my book tour, I thought I had it down pat. I was doing a reading at the Cornell Club, and I read that first scene where Brooke discovers that Douglas wants to wear a kilt to her ex-boyfriend's wedding. There I was, reading the entire scene, thinking that my Scottish accent was dead on. After the reading, my mother came up to me, and as I stood there, ready for the praise to wash over me, she said: “Your Scottish accent stinks.” Needless to say, I picked a different passage for my Barnes and Noble reading.
It's the story of a woman who plans the perfect wedding to her perfect fiancé, all while litigating the biggest case of her career. Which just so happens to be against her perfect fiancé. Hilarity ensues.
Teaching at Mediabistro has been such an amazing experience (and not just because they throw a killer book launch party!). I absolutely love everyone that works there, and the students I've had in my classes have all been intelligent, professional and talented (a few of my former students have already landed agents, in fact!) I teach workshops, seminars, and two different eight-week classes -beginner and advanced - and they are all geared towards drafting your novel and getting it published.
I met Helen Fielding at a reading she did in NYC, and she told me that I should always write as if I were writing a letter to my best friend. I like that advice. My own advice would be even more basic, and it's the advice I always give in my Mediabistro classes: read a lot and write a lot. Simple as that!
I became a lawyer because I loved to write. I practised at a large law firm and also did a federal clerkship, but couldn't find the perfect niche for myself in law. I've always had a real love for fiction, and I'd find myself practicing law and thinking about these fictional stories that I wanted to write. So, I decided to pursue my dream of being a fiction writer.
It all started with an email from thriller writer Jason Pinter, congratulating me for being mentioned in EW. I had no idea that my book was going to be mentioned there, and so I did what any normal debut author would do - I ran to the drug store (actually drove to the drug store like a crazed lunatic - it's only by sheer miracle that I didn't get into an accident/ get a ticket/ get arrested), grabbed a copy off the shelves (again, grabbed it like a crazed lunatic), and flipped to the Books section to see my name in print. It was only after I took a moment to breathe that I realized that my book was actually listed as one of the top five mystery books that week, which was strange, seeing as my book is not a mystery. It didn't take me long to realize that EW had confused my book, Scot on the Rocks (How I survived my ex-boyfriend's wedding with my dignity ever-so-slightly intact), which came out in April 2007, with Scots on the Rocks (A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery) by Mary Daheim, which came out July 2007. All in all, I was beyond thrilled to see my book mentioned in Entertainment Weekly. Even if it was just because of a mix-up with the title of another book, it was still pretty much the coolest thing ever to see my name in their magazine.
For me, chick lit is funny, fun, smart fiction about our lives today.
There truly are too many to name! There are so many writers out there who I love, such as Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Kristin Harmel, Carole Matthews, Emily Giffin, Jennifer Weiner and Melissa Senate. As for favorite books, I love the sense of humor in the Shopaholic series - Becky's voice never fails to make me laugh out loud. Marian Keyes's Watermelon was one of the first chick lit books I read, and since then, I've always loved everything she's written (especially her latest, Anybody Out There?). Her books are always funny and poignant, and that's a balance I try to strike as a writer, too. All-time favorites also include Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (natch!), Jemima J by Jane Green, and Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro.