Day 3: Debbie: On writing and reality shows

2k8: We're back with Debbie Reed Fischer, debut young adult author of Braless in Wonderland. Yup. That's her above. What a cutie patootie child model! 

So, Debbie, inquiring minds want to know. Where do you do most of your writing?


Debbie Reed Fischer: We have a wood-paneled library in our house and I love to write in it when I’m home. I also write at Dunkin Donuts, cafés in South Beach, and when my kids are with me, at Chuck E. Cheese. There must be something fundamentally wrong with me because I actually feel relaxed at Chuck E's.

2k8: (whispering) Do ya think she tidied her office for this picture? Because, if not, then the rest of us are just, uh, messy, messy writers.

Debbie Reed Fischer: For writing longhand, I love the beach. The only downside is discovering sand in your notebooks when you get home. Or the occasional seaweed.



But, my number one Mac Daddy place to write is the library. Any library. When I really need to buckle down, that’s where I go. I love the boxy, little study rooms. I even love the arctic sub zero air conditioning when it’s 99 degrees outside. I bundle up in sweats and keep thick, wooly socks in my backpack to wear with my flip flops. It’s sexy.

2k8: Did anything surprise you or catch you off guard when you were writing Braless in Wonderland?



Debbie Reed Fischer: Yes, I was and still am completely gobsmacked by how many librarians watch America’s Next Top Model and all those model reality shows. Teens I can understand, but literary ladies and gentlemen? Any time I mention my book, they tell me how much they love to watch models on TV, but they whisper it, like it’s a dirty secret. They actually filmed an MTV reality show about models and bookers at an agency where I worked. It was called Eighth and Ocean. The photo above is from the show.




2k8: So, dahlings, join us again tomorrow for more scoop on Debbie Reed Fischer...

Day 2: How Debbie became a model booker...

2k8: We're back for the second day of debut author Debbie Reed Fischer's launch week. Her young adult novel, Braless in Wonderland, is available everywhere.

Debbie, you've got to tell everyone that great story of how you became a model booker. AND explain the strange pic at the top of today's post!

Debbie Reed Fischer: Well, I sort of fell into it. Or rather, it fell into me.

During my senior year of college, I had an internship at a model and talent agency. On my first day, I was told to file head shots and resumes in these huge, floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets. There were six of them. Wildly curious about the talent repped by the agency, I spent more time reading the resumes than filing. So I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that I had pulled open every single drawer on this one filing cabinet.

Until I heard a strange creaking sound.

And jumped out of the way just in time.

The entire filing cabinet tipped over, knocking into the one next to it, then into the next one, and so on and so on and so on, until the last mammoth filing cabinet crashed into the wall. It was like giant dominoes.

The owner actually had to hire a moving company to set the cabinets straight again!

Certain I was fired, I sneaked out early. Later, I received a call from the owner. “You’re the best intern we’ve ever had,” she said. “I want to hire you.”

I took the job, and the next day, told the story to this stunning model lounging in the waiting area. “Don’t you think it’s weird I got hired?” I asked her.

“No,” the model replied. “That’s the business. It’s crazy.”

And she was right. It was glamorous AND crazy.


2k8: How did get from being a model booker to writing Braless in Wonderland?

Debbie Reed Fischer: I’m a graduate of the University of Miami’s screenwriting program, so my plan was to write screenplays. Although, as fate would have it, I fell into the business side of the film industry, starting out as a talent agent for TV and film.

And then I did the model booking thing in Miami. The modeling world provided me with a treasure chest of material to write about. I usually felt like the blonde on The Munsters, scratching my head and wondering what planet I’d landed on. I kept notebooks on everyone and everything while I worked there, and years later, those notes came in very handy when I sat down to write the Braless in Wonderland. The book is fiction, but the notes make the scenes really authentic.

2k8: Thanks, Debbie!

Oh, yeah, and about those modeling terms from yesterday's post--

backdrop: whatever's behind the model at a photo shoot (eg. seamless paper)

clean-clean: clean hair (as in washed), clean face (as in no makeup), how you might be instructed to show up at a photo shoot

cyc studio: a photo studio with no corners

(From Model Business)


Join us tomorrow for the inside skinny on where Debbie does her writing!

Psssst! In the meantime...hop on over to Nineteen Teen where M.P. Barker, author of A Difficult Boy, is guest blogging today. You don't want to miss it!

Introducing the one and only Debbie Reed Fischer!

The Class of 2k8 is thrilled to announce the release of Braless in Wonderland by debut young adult author, Debbie Reed Fischer!

Braless in Wonderland is a humorous, fast-paced teen story about a girl who falls into the world of modeling.

And Debbie Reed Fischer was the perfect person to write this stay-up-all-night-to-finish-it book. She's definitely no stranger to the modeling business, having worked for many years as a model booker in Miami, where she experienced the daily dramas of the weird and the beautiful.

Other job adventures from her past include hosting a cable TV show for teens, picking melons on a kibbutz, teaching middle and high school English, and singing in a USO troupe. Talk about multi-talented!!

Debbie grew up in a sleepy Florida town much like Cape Comet (where her protagonist, Allee Rosen, grew up) and has also lived in England, Greece, and Israel.

In high school, she spent a lot of time in math class writing stories, songs, and long notes to her friends. Now you know why we don't let her figure out the tip in restaurants!

A graduate of the University of Miami's screenwriting program, Debbie currently lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, with her husband and two kids, where she feeds them a steady diet of take-out. Her second teen novel, Swimming with the Sharks, will be released in September. Debbie is our class Energizer Bunny!



And here's a head shot (just to throw a little modeling lingo your way!) of our very own Debbie Reed Fischer, author of Braless in Wonderland.



About Braless in Wonderland...

Allee Rosen is a lot of things: high school senior, overachiever, feminist, brainiac. The one thing she’s not is super model material. She leaves that to pretty people like her little sister (a.k.a. “The Fluff”). That’s why it’s a complete shock when Allee, not her sister, is the one spotted by modeling scouts at the mall and signed by a major modeling agency in Miami.
It’s classic GEEK-to-CHIC – but it’s not like it’s going to change her, right? She’s just doing it for the money that will pay her way through college. Very soon, however, Allee is swept up in the whirlwind of go-sees, designer labels and photo shoots. Will her elusive “It Girl” status lead Allee to drop her dreams and forget who she really is?

Issues of body image, feminism and personal growth are woven throughout the story as readers enjoy a funny, honest insider’s peek at what really goes on behind the cameras.

“The book gets inside of the mind a new model, especially her insecurities and her misconceptions about what models are like,” Fischer commented in an interview in the March issue of Portrait magazine. “It’s also about holding on to the core of who you are, but being willing to grow and change.” In the world of fashion, nothing is ever what it seems, and much like Alice in Wonderland, this novel is a surreal adventure full of self-discovery and transformation, with plenty of glamour and fun along the way.




We're not the only people who love Braless in Wonderland. Here's what others are saying...

"Detailed and realistic . . . Fischer has worked for many years as a booker in Miami, and she really knows the business." --KLIATT

"Such a page-turning book, you might sweep through it as quickly as you can say ‘go-see.’ This book is like watching a fast-paced teen drama . . . you can't help but root for Allee Rosen, in all of her unglamorous glory.” --Today’s Teen of the Palm Beach Post

"Braless in Wonderland thrusts the reader into the world of modeling . . . pick up this book!" *****--TeensReadToo.com

"A good book for growing up and seeing people for who they really are . . . worth the read.” --Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine

"Braless in Wonderland is an unexpected delight . . . I found myself drawn into the character’s adventure . . . an accurate and enticing peek into the real world of modeling, which includes not only the glitz and the glamour, but the downsides and pressures. There is a fun array of characters and scenarios, and I was left feeling that unlike many books, this one didn’t fail to live up to its own plotlines potential."
--Portrait magazine

Populated with a fun vibe, an inside look at the world of Miami modeling agencies, and some great secondary characters, Braless in Wonderland is well worth picking up for some by-the-pool summer reading. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Reed Fischer.
-EnchantingReviews.com

Join us tomorrow for how Debbie Reed Fischer became a model booker and got to use cool terms like "clean-clean" and "backdrop" and "cyc studio." See, Deb, we really do listen to you!

TIPS, TIPS, TIPS...

Raising hand. Waving hand. Frantically. We have some Totally Important Posts!






Brooke Taylor's Undone and Lisa Schroeder's I Heart You, You Haunt Me have been nominated for ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers. Double congratulations!


What Shelf Elf has to say about Elizabeth C. Bunce's A Curse Dark as Gold: "Highly recommended." And, Shelf Elf, thanks for posting the video too!

Others adoring fans (in alpha order) of A Curse Dark as Gold: Bookshelves of Doom, Bookwyrm Chrysalis, Miss Erin, Sarah Miller,


And Jennifer Bradbury's Shift is a Richie's pick.


Wow! Go Class of 2k8!

Our Last Day With M.P. Barker...

As her launch week for A Difficult Boy comes to an close, we're getting ready to bid a fond farewell to M.P. Barker. She'll still be in class with us. Natch. She'll just be moving over to make way for our next debut author launch.

Before leaving, M.P.'d like to talk to us about setting. And who are we to argue with a published author?! Take it away, Classmate!

Since my book is set in an imaginary town, the best I can do is give you a tour of a similar imaginary town—Old Sturbridge Village, where I worked as a costumed interpreter during the 1980s and 1990s. (For those of you non-New Englanders, Old Sturbridge Village is a re-created early 19th-century (circa 1830-1840) New England village.) That was a real stroll down memory lane. I had to dig through my attic to find photos of my days at OSV. Oh, my!



Actually, I didn't start out working in costume at OSV. I began working here.

Yes, my first job at OSV was as a horticultural assistant working behind the scenes in the greenhouses and planting all the modern ornamental gardens at the entrances and around the visitor center, etc. I had one of the best bosses ever, got a great tan, and was probably in the best shape I’d ever been in by the end of the summer.




The next year, I went from wearing shorts and working in the flower gardens to wearing this.






And working in gardens...


If I thought I worked hard the summer before…well, there’s nothing to get you buff like digging, weeding, milking cows, making cheese, chopping kindling, hauling wood and water…



Not that I’m complaining. It wasn’t always down and dirty. I also got to...


Sing…




Dance…





And run around with men.


One of my co-workers used to say that even back then the guys with the wheels got all the women.



I got to play with my food…


Okay, I’m being facetious…but only a little. One of the perks was getting to eat all the food that we cooked, which included our own chicken, turkey, beef, and pork. Okay, maybe I could have done without making the head cheese…with a real head. It’s a seriously scary recipe that begins with: Boil one pig’s head until the eyes fall out… Better than cleaning sausage casings, though, I’ll tell you that. You haven’t lived until you’ve sloshed a couple miles of pig intestines through a pan of salt water.


My favorite time of year was the spring, with all the new baby animals. During my time there, I got to see two calves born, including this one. (He was given the not particularly period-appropriate name of Fred A. Steere…)


The weird thing is that I swore I’d never write historical fiction because after working at OSV I realized just how many details there were to get wrong—and how much work it is to get it right.

So what did I end up writing? Yeah, that’s right. And in spite of getting my manuscript reviewed by no fewer than five Village people (hey, we had the name before YMCA!), now I live in terror that my former co-workers will catch all the mistakes I missed…

M.P. Barker, thank you, thank you for spending your launch week with us!  We're so proud of you! And we wish you the absolute best.

Oh yeah, besides being a time traveler, M.P. is also a blog hopper. You can catch an interview with her today over at Nineteen Teen, a fantastically informative blog about being a teen in the nineteenth century.

Thanks again, M.P. You're a published author now! Go forth and prosper!

M.P. Barker and The Great Agent Quest

This is the face that got me my agent. No, really. This is Tie-Dye the Wonder Dog (1989-2005). He was the best little guy, and I was missing him terribly in spring 2005 when I was on my Great Agent Quest.

So there I am, going through lists of agents, and I’m looking at John Hawkins and Associates, the oldest literary agency in the country. And I’m seeing names like James Clavell and Alex Haley and Joyce Carol Oates. And I’m saying, “Yeah, right. Like these guys would really represent a nobody like me.” But what the heck, I read the agent profiles anyway. And in the profile for William Reiss, I see that he represents Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of



I see that cute little beagle snout, big brown beagle eyes and floppy beagle ears as an omen. Fate. Kismet.



A message from Tie-Dye and the beagle gods in the Great Beyond. I say, “This is the agent for me!” So off I send my query—zip! And zip! the next day I get an email requesting fifty pages. The fifty pages get sent, and zip! an email comes back asking for the rest of the story. The beagle gods are plied with burnt offerings of bacon and cheese and yea, verily, they are pleased.

Three months go by. In the meantime, being on a self-help-book kick, I’m reading about these affirmation things, where you’re supposed to keep saying what you want to happen and that’s supposed to make it happen. Sounds pretty hokey, but what the heck, it can’t hurt, right? My affirmation: “This guy is my agent.”

So it’s been three months, and I ask Mr. Reiss what’s the status on my MS. Nicely…professionally…definitely NOT telling him about the beagle gods and affirmations. I mean, really, you can’t let your prospective agent know you’re certifiably insane, can you?

I get a polite: “I'm going to decline, even though there is a good deal that I like about the novel.” UGH. What have I done to offend the beagle gods? Have I not been forthcoming with the bacon? Have I looked covetously upon cats? No I have not. I have been faithful to the beagle gods as a good and loyal supplicant should be. So I do what any logical, rational person would in this situation. I yell at the computer: “You can’t reject me! You’re supposed to be my agent! It is the divine will of the beagle gods!”

But I am a professional and so I do not call the wrath of the beagle gods down upon this goodly man, but instead I thank him for reading the MS and ask him if there’s anything I might do to get him to reconsider—assuring him that I am a reasonable person not wedded to my deathless prose, and quite open to making changes if he so desires. And yea, verily, there is hope, for he replies “Give me a week to think about it.” And at the end of the allotted week, lo, the beagle gods have smiled and gifted me with an agent. A very, very good agent, with whom I am well pleased.

M.P. Barker is the debut YA author of A Difficult Boy.

Set against the exciting backdrop of New England history, this stunning first novel from a talented new voice shows what it takes to be a friend.

Totally Important Post!

People out and about have been talking about 2k8 classmates! And here's what they're saying...

Brooke Taylor’s Undone is a Top Choice at Flamingnet Book Reviews!

Click on the graphic to read the review:


Daphne Grab's Alive and Well in Prague, New York received a terrific review at Teens Read Too.

And Kirkus First Fiction Special Issue said wonderful things about M.P. Barker's A Difficult Boy. Here's the abridged version:

"What was the life of an indentured servant but that of a slave? M.P. Barker brings it ringingly, cringingly to life. ..A Difficult Boy hinges on the efforts of two boys—one social, one circumstantially remote, soon to be friends—to escape their brutalized existence. ..Then there is Ivy, a horse that bonds the boys and provides their ticket out.

Couture's Fashionable Reads gave a great review of Regina Scott's La Petite Four.

Last, but not least, Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Review has a very nice write up on us!