Showing posts with label Nora Ephron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nora Ephron. Show all posts

June 29, 2012

Nora Ephron Remembered: Fun Facts Friday

I was so sad to hear that Nora Ephron passed away this week at the age of 71. The same day, unaware of the news, I listed Nora Ephron as my dream director for the movie version of Depression Cookies in the post, Oprah Winfrey and Roger Ebert: Dreaming About Depression Cookies.
From Wikipedia

Although I loved her movies, I realized I knew very little about her. So today I'm dedicating my Fun Facts Fridays to Nora Ephron.

Born in 1941, she was a was an American filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger. She was best known for her romantic comedies, including Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Julie and Julia, and You've Got Mail.

Interesting Facts

* She briefly interned for John F. Kennedy.
* She worked in the mailroom of Newsweek.
* Her first novel, Heartburn, inspired by the end of her second marriage, became a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.
* She wrote a regular blog for the Huffington Post.

My Favorite Ephron Quotes

“I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.”

“I try to w
rite parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are.”


“Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.”

“Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.”

What comes to mind when you think of Nora Ephron?

June 27, 2012

Momentum and Friendships: Author Blog Challenge Wrapping Up

Although this Friday officially wraps up the Author Blog Challenge, I am tackling the last two prompts today.

DAY 27 What has been the best part of participating in the Author Blog Challenge? What are your suggestions for improving the next Author Blog Challenge?

Meeting other writers and becoming more familiar with Laura Orsini, aka Marcie Brock, Book Marketing Maven. I found her post yesterday, Are You Employing the 8 Components of a Successful Book Business?, particularly enlightening and useful. Plus, I've added some books to my to-be-read pile.

I also enjoyed the prompts. I didn't use them every day or follow the schedule, but it was nice to have the idea spark. There were some great questions. Thanks to this challenge, I started planning the movie version of our book, Depression Cookies. The post: Oprah Winfrey and Roger Ebert: Dreaming about Depression Cookies.

Note: In that post, I named Nora Ephron as my dream director. Sadly, she passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Goodbye, Nora. Thanks for all the wonderful memories and my favorite Meg Ryan films. I plan to do a post this week on her.

DAY 28 What are you going to do to keep the blogging momentum going? What plans do you have to continue your connection with other Author Blog Challenge participants?

I've been blogging pretty much every day since May 2011, so it's actually time for me to pull back and finish two novels that have suffered in the meantime.

My new blog schedule will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Friday is a theme day: Fun Facts Friday. Wednesday and Sundays are for A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80)  posts/updates. Mondays are a free-for-all. With three kids home for summer (12, 10 & 7) and two novels staring me down, I need to refocus for the next few months.

My last three months have been daily blogging challenges: April was the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, May was Michelle Rafter's WordCount Blogathon, and June was the Author Blog Challenge. I completed each one, but now I'm challenged out. Because of the insanity, I did not interact on as many blogs as I would have liked. I hope to remedy that in July and August.

For my fellow Author Blog Challenge participants: what has been your favorite part?