Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Evanovich, living, Writing
I had to stop reading a Janet Evanovich book on a train once because I was laughing so loudly that people were staring. On another occasion, I was completely ticked off that my train pulled into the station because I had to close the book on a particularly juicy sex scene between bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and her cop boyfriend Joe Morelli.
?Both good things,? Evanovich said with a laugh when I shared this in our recent interview on the day before her latest Stephanie Plum book release ? Finger Lickin? Fifteen — and the start of its book tour. It must be noted that the day we spoke, June 22, was also the day doughnuts were created in 1847.
?I heard that on the radio this morning,? I told Evanovich, prompting another laugh from the bestselling, wildly popular author whose characters spend an inordinate amount of time consuming the sugary confections.
This is the thing about Evanovich. She appeals to our most basic cravings and appetites because she knows how to feed them. Her books are bawdy, salty, sexy, adventurous and outrageous. If you add in predictable, logic says that would mean dull, but on the contrary, she manages to be consistently entertaining.
?My readers, for the most part, reflect the attitude of my books — that this is basically a happy experience,? Evanovich said. ?They come out to my signings and go to my Web site and they?re generous, enthusiastic, and warm. Once in a while you get someone who feels Ranger hasn?t had enough time with Stephanie, but that is a very small minority.?
Ranger, for those who aren?t fans (yet), is the other love interest in Stephanie?s life. Evanovich?s fans remain at about a 50-50 split on which one is best for her: the hunky Italian cop (Morelli) or the smooth Latino bounty hunter (Ranger). There are Web conversations and YouTube.com videos galore on these New Jersey-based characters, many speculating on who should play them in the movie (the film rights were sold to Columbia Tristar in 1994 but there is currently no movie).
?They?re the classic bad boy hero,? Evanovich said. ?They?re who we would all want in our fantasy. Maybe not in reality, but this is fiction. They?re good-looking, over-sexed in a non-threatening way, they offer protection and they?re respectful of Stephanie. Listen, I?m as liberated as anybody, but I don?t want to kill my own spiders. I think that?s true of almost all women.?
When I told her that several people I spoke to wondered if Stephanie would ever get married, we got to talking about how passionately people project onto her characters.
?I think that?s fascinating,? she said.
However, when you look at TV shows with sexual tension in the plot (i.e., Cheers, Moonlighting), they were never the same once the parties got together.
?In real life, marriage is the beginning,? Evanovich said. ?In fiction, it?s the end. I?m the first person I please and I?m having a lot of fun the way things are.?
If there?s one overarching thing I learned about Evanovich in our hour-long conversation, it?s that she doesn?t just have fun, she knows how to live in the present.
?I never really thought about it,? she said when I mentioned it. ?I?ve always thought of myself as delaying things. I don?t go on vacation, I?m always gonna lose weight next week. But I think I do live in the present. I?ve structured my life to do what I want to do every day. I take twenty-minute vacations. I live in New Hampshire in the woods. I can go outside and watch turkeys walk by. Or I can go to the river. I have a home in Naples, Florida, and I?m at the beach in five minutes.?
Simple pleasures have ruled Evanovich?s life. She was a stay-at-home wife and mother before becoming a published author, first in the romance genre (after a 10-year journey, the burning of rejection letters, and a surrender that led her to the world of temping) and then, in a calculated move, as the creator of Stephanie Plum in the mystery genre. She was 51 years old when One for the Money launched the series in 1994.
?I?m the poster child for persistence,? she said. ?If anybody takes anything away from my story, it?s that you can have many lives. This business that you have to be a professional, that you have to do it now, that you have to accomplish things when you?re 20, I say, ?No, you don?t.? We live in this fabulous country. If you can enjoy being a mom, enjoy being a mom. Too many of us are waiting to enjoy the future.?
Not Evanovich. As the kid who could always draw, she majored in fine arts at Rutgers University. She got married in 1964 and loved being home with her children.
?I?ve never understood women who felt locked in the house all day,? she said. ?For me it was about coloring books and reading children?s books. We baked brownies and stuffed chickens. It was a healing time, a time when I was allowed to get myself together.?
Once the kids got older and she had more time, Evanovich didn?t anticipate painting being a lucrative career, so she tapped into her love of telling stories and began writing.
?I could be just as happy baking a cake as writing books,? she said.
As a born and bred New Jersey girl who knows intimately the Trenton streets Evanovich writes about and the ?dialect? of her rough-and-tumble characters, I for one am glad she didn?t go the Betty Crocker route.
My train rides just wouldn?t be the same.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com. (more…)
Filed under: personalfinancenewsss.wordpress.com | Tags: Evanovich, living, Writing
I had to stop reading a Janet Evanovich book on a train once because I was laughing so loudly that people were staring. On another occasion, I was completely ticked off that my train pulled into the station because I had to close the book on a particularly juicy sex scene between bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and her cop boyfriend Joe Morelli.
“Both good things,” Evanovich said with a laugh when I shared this in our recent interview on the day before her latest Stephanie Plum book release – Finger Lickin’ Fifteen — and the start of its book tour. It must be noted that the day we spoke, June 22, was also the day doughnuts were created in 1847.
“I heard that on the radio this morning,” I told Evanovich, prompting another laugh from the bestselling, wildly popular author whose characters spend an inordinate amount of time consuming the sugary confections.
This is the thing about Evanovich. She appeals to our most basic cravings and appetites because she knows how to feed them. Her books are bawdy, salty, sexy, adventurous and outrageous. If you add in predictable, logic says that would mean dull, but on the contrary, she manages to be consistently entertaining.
“My readers, for the most part, reflect the attitude of my books — that this is basically a happy experience,” Evanovich said. “They come out to my signings and go to my Web site and they’re generous, enthusiastic, and warm. Once in a while you get someone who feels Ranger hasn’t had enough time with Stephanie, but that is a very small minority.”
Ranger, for those who aren’t fans (yet), is the other love interest in Stephanie’s life. Evanovich’s fans remain at about a 50-50 split on which one is best for her: the hunky Italian cop (Morelli) or the smooth Latino bounty hunter (Ranger). There are Web conversations and YouTube.com videos galore on these New Jersey-based characters, many speculating on who should play them in the movie (the film rights were sold to Columbia Tristar in 1994 but there is currently no movie).
“They’re the classic bad boy hero,” Evanovich said. “They’re who we would all want in our fantasy. Maybe not in reality, but this is fiction. They’re good-looking, over-sexed in a non-threatening way, they offer protection and they’re respectful of Stephanie. Listen, I’m as liberated as anybody, but I don’t want to kill my own spiders. I think that’s true of almost all women.”
When I told her that several people I spoke to wondered if Stephanie would ever get married, we got to talking about how passionately people project onto her characters.
“I think that’s fascinating,” she said.
However, when you look at TV shows with sexual tension in the plot (i.e., Cheers, Moonlighting), they were never the same once the parties got together.
“In real life, marriage is the beginning,” Evanovich said. “In fiction, it’s the end. I’m the first person I please and I’m having a lot of fun the way things are.”
If there’s one overarching thing I learned about Evanovich in our hour-long conversation, it’s that she doesn’t just have fun, she knows how to live in the present.
“I never really thought about it,” she said when I mentioned it. “I’ve always thought of myself as delaying things. I don’t go on vacation, I’m always gonna lose weight next week. But I think I do live in the present. I’ve structured my life to do what I want to do every day. I take twenty-minute vacations. I live in New Hampshire in the woods. I can go outside and watch turkeys walk by. Or I can go to the river. I have a home in Naples, Florida, and I’m at the beach in five minutes.”
Simple pleasures have ruled Evanovich’s life. She was a stay-at-home wife and mother before becoming a published author, first in the romance genre (after a 10-year journey, the burning of rejection letters, and a surrender that led her to the world of temping) and then, in a calculated move, as the creator of Stephanie Plum in the mystery genre. She was 51 years old when One for the Money launched the series in 1994.
“I’m the poster child for persistence,” she said. “If anybody takes anything away from my story, it’s that you can have many lives. This business that you have to be a professional, that you have to do it now, that you have to accomplish things when you’re 20, I say, ‘No, you don’t.’ We live in this fabulous country. If you can enjoy being a mom, enjoy being a mom. Too many of us are waiting to enjoy the future.”
Not Evanovich. As the kid who could always draw, she majored in fine arts at Rutgers University. She got married in 1964 and loved being home with her children.
“I’ve never understood women who felt locked in the house all day,” she said. “For me it was about coloring books and reading children’s books. We baked brownies and stuffed chickens. It was a healing time, a time when I was allowed to get myself together.”
Once the kids got older and she had more time, Evanovich didn’t anticipate painting being a lucrative career, so she tapped into her love of telling stories and began writing.
“I could be just as happy baking a cake as writing books,” she said.
As a born and bred New Jersey girl who knows intimately the Trenton streets Evanovich writes about and the “dialect” of her rough-and-tumble characters, I for one am glad she didn’t go the Betty Crocker route.
My train rides just wouldn’t be the same.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: debt, drive, economy, free, living, more, Weak
At a time when the average American household carries nearly $10,000 in credit-card debt alone, Barbara Brockaway?s debt-free household doesn?t seem so typical.
When Brockaway and her husband first married, they had student loans, some credit-card debt and a mortgage. But through some careful planning and a little bit of luck (for one, their Atlanta, Ga. home almost doubled in value over an eight-year period), the couple managed to pay all of it off and hasn?t owed a dime since 2003.
She believes that anyone is capable of doing the same.
?We?re not day-to-day, nickel-and-dime budgeters,? said Brockaway, a stay-at-home mother of two. ?I just think it?s just about paying yourself first, saving right off the top and living within your means. I think anybody can do it.?
Brockaway isn?t alone in her thinking. With lenders tightening their grip on credit and economic worries mounting, some say it may be more important now than ever to get out of the hole for good.
?We?ve been living this life of overextending ourselves and we need to get realistic now,? said Debbra Dillon, founder of Dillon Financial Planning in Eagle, Idaho.
Dillon, a certified financial planner who works mostly with middle-income clients, said the biggest drains on her clients? books tend to be credit-card debt and automobile loans — the latter of which has been made worse by the shifting auto market.
?Trucks and SUVs aren?t selling and people are stuck with these payments,? she said. ?It?s a real mess.?
Dillon said she doesn?t feel auto loans are ?worth? going into debt for, advising people to put aside the equivalent of a vehicle payment every month and pay for their cars in cash. While that sort of practice may have been balked at when credit flowed freely, it?s exactly the kind of practice that could catch on as people try to economize.
?I think people are realizing the picnic?s over ? it?s never going to be that easy again,? said Gerri Detweiler, a credit advisor at Credit.com, who believes ?fear and necessity? will drive a huge increase in the number of people aiming to live debt-free.
So do they do it? There?s no magical formula, but those aiming to live debt-free need simply to quit spending and start saving.
For Trent Hamm, a self-proclaimed ?spending maniac? who worked his way out of debt and now runs personal-finance Web site The Simple Dollar, it was all about baby steps — literally. His infant son served as the catalyst for his debt overhaul in the first place.
?I kept spending more than I was making over and over and over again, and I realized [my son] wasn?t going to have a very good future,? Hamm said.
Hamm and his wife began cutting back on their spending, making all of their meals at home and going out less frequently. Hamm also sold off his DVD and baseball card collections — moves that might seem minor, but have big impact.
?If you do 10 or 12 small things that don?t seem like that big of a deal and just start putting those savings towards your debt, your debt just starts disappearing,? he said.
And, while it may seem wise to dive headfirst into paying all your debt off at once, experts suggest getting a grip on one payment first.
?Tackle the highest-cost debt first,? Detweiler of Credit.com said. ?It becomes very difficult when you?re trying to spread your money across all your debt.?
Still, paying off your debt now shouldn?t come at the expense of saving for your future. Experts stress the importance of creating an emergency fund in the event of an unforeseen health issue or job loss. Dillon of Dillon Financial Planning recommends married couples set aside enough money to cover six months of expenses, and singles set aside enough to cover nine months of expenses.
She also reminds people not to forget about their retirement savings.
?Start paying down the debt, but don?t ignore the contribution to the 401(k), especially when you get a match from your employer,? she said. (more…)
Sometimes it?s the seemingly innocuous invitations that turn out to be zingers.
Last weekend, I was invited to sit in on a training session for about 15 people at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. These people were well into a yearlong program to become professional coaches through a company called Accomplishment Coaching.
Those taking the program sat in a square-shaped table configuration, while those invited to witness sat around the perimeter. We were welcomed by CEO Christopher McAuliffe and then ?ignored? once the training began, so as to let the classroom setting unfold and allow us to be observers.
What set the tone for the nearly two hours that followed was one student, let?s call her Carolyn, who shared that she was choosing to put aside some potentially debilitating health problems in order to be effective as a coach. Her classmates, one by one, challenged whether she was indeed putting them aside and carefully probed. At one point, McAuliffe asked Carolyn what really living life would mean to her and part of her response was ?traveling around the world.? He then drew her out for specifics.
Carolyn continued to be coached by her peers and the instructors. At times it felt like we were eavesdropping rather than just observing, such was the power of the exchange taking place. As it wound down, McAuliffe asked the coach trainees what ?project? Carolyn should take on. She had previously revealed ongoing projects in building her coaching practice and writing books. Two students took a crack at it and whiffed.
?Traveling around the world,? McAuliffe said.
But of course. (Did I gasp out loud?)
As a professional coach, I should not have been surprised and yet sometimes it takes someone else to say it. If a client, or in this case Carolyn, just finished saying that to her ?really living life? involves traveling around the world, then setting a goal in that is part of what we do as coaches. We make real to them what they?ve only imagined might be possible.
Now of course, in a situation outside this classroom, suggesting this goal to a client would likely produce responses like, ?In this economy? Yeah, right? or ?When will I ever have the time to do that??
As a coach, I say, if not now, when?
Even the most optimistic experts tell us we?re going to be dealing with this grim economy for years. Are we going to start ?really living? in four, eight, 10 years? By now I?ve written a few columns talking about using this time to assess your attachments to material goods and to really examine your relationships. Here, I am suggesting a no-holds-barred answer to the question, what does really living life mean to you?
Last week a former client wrote me for advice because he doesn?t know what he wants his next career path to be. He has done assessments, introspection, networking, you name it, but he is temping at the moment. Here?s what I wrote: ?I know this isn’t really an answer, but I feel you have a lot to offer. Maybe life is telling you to go out on a crazy limb right now. What might that look like?? His response included some thoughts of a geographical move.
Just days later, I was reading the Style section of The New York Times and a bit in the ?Vows? column (on the wedding announcements page) caught my eye. The bride, in her 40s, was the type who lived her own life and wasn?t sitting around waiting for Mr. Right. In 2006 she decided to put 20 years of New York living behind her and move to Dublin for a job with a three-year commitment. While there, she booked a weekend getaway to Glasgow, ?which is where she crossed paths with a frisky cocker spaniel dragging a buff Scottish policeman behind it.?
I think you know where the story goes. And for that matter, where this column is going. In keeping with the travel theme, I have a friend in the South of France who?s invited me to visit. Before I could even voice an objection about money or time, he said this, ?All you have to pay for is the airline ticket. You have a place to stay. And you?d have to buy food whether you came to France or not.?
Sometimes really living life is that simple. Give your goals some wings.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com. (more…)
