Last night, (7/29) Brenda Janowitz came to talk to us all again, she visited all 3 worlds

last year and talked about writing and about her first book, Scot on the Rocks..

and read a chapter for us. Her new book, Jack with a Twist has just come

out and she gave us a chapter from it as well! She'll be reading another chapter

of Jack with a Twist over in DS tonight.. We have the free trials that will let you

join DS if you don't have an account there.

Hey everybody! Great to be back!!!
I'm so delighted to be here! and thanks so much to all of you for being here tonight!
As Twi said, tonight I'll be reading from my newest novel, JACK WITH A TWIST.
It's about a woman planning the wedding of her dreams while litigating the

biggest case of her career. Which just so happens to be against her fiancé....
So, without further ado, I'd like to read to you from Chapter Ten.

All you need to know is that Brooke and Jack are getting married.

Miranda is someone who works for Jack.

Chapter Ten:

"You do not look like James Bond," I say.
"Of course I do," Jack says, not even looking at me, waving the zappy gun menacingly at the row of crystal bowls we're browsing. We're at Tiffany and Co. today to register since my parents' friends apparently went to Tiffany to buy us an engagement gift 
and we were-gasp!-not registered there yet. 
"You don't," I say, grabbing the gun from him to zap the Harmony bowl onto our registry. I've bought that bowl for so many engaged couples that I've lost count. I know that I should be thrilled that I am now the one registering for it,
but all I can do is be annoyed at Jack for acting so juvenile. Who is this man-child and what has he done with my fiancé?
Why does Tiffany's even give out these stupid zappy guns out to couples who are registering, anyway? You would think that a classy joint like Tiffany and Co. wouldn't want to give couples a scanner to scan merchandise directly onto their registry.
You'd think that they'd ask you to write them a formal note on perfumed stationary detailing just exactly which items you would like on your registry instead of letting all of their couples make a scene in the store by having them walk around debating the
merits of the basketweave pattern versus the plaid. More importantly, don't they know that the men who hold the scanners will instantly revert to children and start using the scanning guns as toys? 
I had this image of us walking into Tiffany's-a modern day Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard-behaving elegantly as we registered for all of the things that we would need for our glamorous new life together.
I even wore a black shift dress and beige raincoat. Instead, my fiancé began playing with the gun like a six year old, thus testing our relationship to its very brink.
"Gimme that," he says, grabbing the gun from my hands, "those Russians are on our tails."
And with that, he begins to skulk behind the glassware.
"What in God's name are you doing?" I whisper loudly as I follow him behind the rock cut beer mugs.
"Shhh!" he says, pointing at another couple around the same age as us who are also registering, "the Russian couple!"
"First of all," I say, "they're not Russian, Jackie."
"Yes, they are," he whispers, "and use my code name, Hannibal."
"Excuse me?"
"Hannibal," he says, crawling past the wine glasses straight towards the bowls. "You said that I had to be George Peppard today."
"Get up!" I say, pulling Jack up off the ground from his shirt collar, "His character's name was not Hannibal."
"Well, I'm George Peppard from the A Team," he says, "George Peppard from Breakfast at Tiffany's was a huge wimp."
"You can't just pick whatever George Peppard you want to be," I say.
"The Russians!" he says, pulling me behind the wall that separates the personal shoppers from the rest of the floor.
"Stop this," I say, "You're George Peppard from Breakfast at Tiffany's. Start behaving accordingly."
"A Team!"
"Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?"
"Please, Brooke," he whispers, "we don't want the Russians to attack. We're vulnerable by the glassware. Let's move to the sterling silver."
"You do realize that you're supposed to be the normal one in this relationship," I say as he drags me across the floor to the sterling silver. And he's right, there's much more cover in the sterling silver section. 
It's just that my father will kill me if I register for any sterling silver that could be gotten for cheaper out on Long Island at Morell's.
"Do you see the Russians?" Jack asks, his back to the display case.
"Okay, they are not Russian!" I say. "They are just another couple registering for their wedding, just like us."
"Well, actually, Brooke," Jack says, "both of my grandmothers were born in Russia, as was my grandfather on my mother's side."
"Could you focus on registering, please," I say, taking the gun away from him.
"Shouldn't you just be happy that I came?" Jack asks, "most men make their fiancées do all the work by themselves. But, I'm here. So, can't you just appreciate that and let me have a little fun instead of being bored to death?"
"Oh my God, Jackie, you're bored to death?"
"Kind of," he says, "but I know it's important to you, so I'm here."
"Jackie," I sing, grabbing him for a kiss. "That is so sweet of you."

"Of course, sweetie," he says as he glances back to the table filled with crystal bowls, "but you can do Bloomie's with your mother, right?"
"Right," I say with a smile.
"Hey, are these the Georgetown bowls?" Jack says, picking up a crystal bowl and turning it over. It's a large crystal bowl, but rather plain. 
It lacks the elegant lines of the Harmony bowl, and has big sides that look cumbersome-like they'd always get in the way. I never would have chosen it myself, but if Jack wants it, I suppose I don't mind.
"Miranda says that we should register for the Georgetown bowl," Jack says, getting the scanner ready to zap.
Miranda? Why is Miranda telling him what to register for?
"Why is Miranda telling us what to register for?" I ask, taking the bowl from his grasp under the pretense of taking a closer look at it.
"She says it makes a great salad bowl," he says, baby blues shining. He seems so excited about having suggested something for our registry that I barely have the heart to tell him that I really don't care what Miranda thinks we should register for, 
since she's not our friend. 
She's just someone who works for Jack.
Not like I'm jealous of her or anything. 
But, really. How dare he invoke her name while we are in the temple of Tiffany and Co. (And if you don't think that shopping at Tiffany's is a religious experience, clearly you've never been there.)
"It's at a good price point," Jack says, smiling. "Didn't your mother tell us that we should register for things in a wide variety of price points?"
"Zap it in," I say, forcing a smile. I think to myself that I can always delete it off of our registry later when I go online.
"Will do," Jack says, and turns around to zap the totally boring Georgetown bowl into our registry.
"Gotcha!" the faux Russian guy says, coming from out of nowhere, pointing his zappy thingee at Jack. Jack clutches his chest and pretends to fall to the floor. 
I do what any woman in my position would do-stand there with my mouth wide open, waiting for faux Russian guy's fiancée to arrive so that we can roll our eyes at our respective fiancés.
"Brooke," he chokes out, "Just remember how much I love you. (Cough.) I want you to go on without me and live a happy life. (Cough, cough.) Don't mourn me for the rest of your life. And-whatever you do-don't register for that Metropolitan vase. 
I really hate it."
He coughs a bit more, just for good measure, and then collapses completely onto the floor, moaning all the way. 
I am not amused. 
Again, and I really can't stress this enough, he's supposed to be the normal one in this relationship.
"Who are you?" I say, and take his gun and start zapping silver serving spoons indiscriminately.
"Boys and their toys," a woman who I can only assume is the faux Russian-fiancée says to me, rolling her eyes. 
Maybe they really are Russian. That post-perestroika tough talking sort of Russian woman who simply tells it like it is.
After all, she does have pitch black straight hair, pale skin and blood red lipstick on. I ask you, what says Russian woman more than black hair, pale skin and red lipstick?!? And her fiancé has pale blond hair, even paler skin and a tall, skinny frame 
that totally screams Baryshnikov in White Nights. 
"Let me give you a hand there," faux Russian says to Jack, as he helps pull Jack up off of the floor. 
"Thanks," Jack says, brushing off his pants and running his hand through his shaggy brown hair.
"No problem," faux Russian says, "I'm Yuri. And this is my fiancée, Natasha."
"Nice to meet you," I say, shaking their hands as Jack introduces us. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the edges of Jack's mouth creep into a sly smile.
"So," Jack says, putting his arm around my waist and giving me a squeeze, "you guys are Russian, huh?"

After you've written a book, who gets to read it prior to publishing other than your editor ?
After you write a book, the first thing you need to do is to find an agent.
Then, your agent will shop it to various publishers and you hope that an editor makes an offer on it.
Once an offer is in place, and you've accepted, you then begin working with your editor on the book.
But, once you've finished a book, it's a good idea to send it to friends and family and get opinions on it before trying to find an agent. You want it to be absolutely perfect- finding an agent is hard and there's lots of competition!

Thank you for being here! I can't wait to read the rest! What kind of schedule do you have

for writing and the rest of your life?
OMG, LOL! That IS funny!
I try to write whenever I can.
Right now, I'm promoting JACK, so that doesn't leave a ton of time for writing. But I find little pockets of time and I try to write then. 
For example, when I was waiting to come here, I wrote for an hour or two.
As for the rest of my life, that's a tough one!
I recently got married on May 25, so as for the rest of my life, I'm focusing on my marriage right now.
SO, yes, got married May 25, had my second book come out June 24, it's been a busy summer!!!
It's actually very funny bc I wrote a book about a woman planning her wedding and THEN I got engaged and planned my own!!!!
But my husband didn't make a scene in Tiffany's..... LOL!!!!

We are starting to love Brooke and the other characters in this book series, are there plans

to make it a trilogy or an even longer series at this point?
Oh, thank you so much!
What a sweet thing to say!
As of right now, another Brooke book isn't planned.
But, the online story will be continuing for the next eight weeks, so you can check that out in the meantime!
It takes place in between SCOT and JACK.
Right now, the book I'm working on isn't another Brooke book. But, hopefully there will be characters for you to fall in love with anyway!!!

Your characters are likeable and charismatic, has anyone contacted you or have you considered submitting either of your books for a movie?
Thanks so much for that!
Right now, my film agent is shopping the books.
So far, there have been lots of meetings.
But, I'm beginning to think that they just have lots of meetings in LA. :)
Seriously, though, I would love for the books to be turned into movies.

I have always heard that you should lay out how your book is going to go - Chap. 1: they met; Chap 2: they fight, so on, but when I write, I have no idea what is going to happen next until I write it. Which do you do? Is one way better then the other?
I don't think there's any set way to write.
For my first book, I didn't have an outline, but for my second one, I did.
I think you just have to find what works the best for you and run with it.
The thing is to keep writing and not burn out and not get bored.
BUT, if you don't outline, you'll probably have to cut more in the second draft stage.....

It's really just up to you. Don't let anyone tell you there's a set formula, tho.

I started writing a few years ago, something based on my grandmother, but once my grandmaw passed away, the story died... How should I get it going again, should I just begin over? or try to start where I left off?
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.
I bet you and your grandmother were close.
I think it's worth it to dust it off and see if you still have something there.
But then again, if it's too painful, it might be a good idea to just let it go and start something new.
Remember, writing should be FUN! It should be your escape-- not depress you...

I've seen a lot of glowing reviews about your books, how does a negative review affect you?
The glowing reviews are the best! And the negative reviews aren't so great.....
There's an expression: "Don't pick it up, don't put it down."
Basically, it means-- don't get too excited about the good reviews, don't get too upset over the bad ones. 
You just have to believe in what you are doing and go from there.

What books do you read, Who's your favorite authors?
I love to read!
There are so many authors who I love!
And I hate this q because I always leave someone out, but here goes!
In my own genre-- chick lit/ romantic comedy-- I love Kristin Harmel, Lynda Curnyn, Sophie Kinsella, Jen Weiner and Emily Giffin
But I also love literary, and some of my faves are Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, Dani Shapiro, Alice Hoffman
And I am a huge fan of Jason Pinter, who's a buddy of mine, who writes thrillers. His latest, THE STOLEN, is out now and I think he may be chatting in world. So look for it!

Do you think there are many similarities with Brad Meltzers "Dead Even" (where Meltzer pits husband against wife in a legal thriller with the most chilling dilemma of all: How far would you go to save the one you love?), and your latest book? Or are you familiar with the that work?
I'm familiar with his work, but I haven't read that one!
But, yes, that sounds very similar-- I will have to check it out!
Basically, in fiction, you're always trying to raise the stakes. SO, by pitting husband v wife, you can't get more dramatic than that!
In my work, I'm trying to do it for comedic effect.
So, hopefully, I've succeeded!!!

How did you go from being an attorney to being a writer? 
Well, I've always loved to write. In fact, that's why I became an attorney.
But after a while, I just wasn't satisfied in law.
I gave it a good try-- I worked as a lawyer in a big firm, clerked for a federal judge, but I just couldn't find my niche.
SO, that's when I decided to give my dream of being a novelist a try!
And I was very lucky to find an agent with my first book! And then have her actually sell it!

You mentioned your agent, then you mentioned a film agent, How does one go about finding an agent in the first place?
Great question!!! Basically, you start out with a finished book. you must have your novel finished before finding an agent.

then you buy a reputable guidebook to agents, such as WRITERS MARKET or Jeff Herman's Guide
you go through it and find out about agents. you have to do a ton of research on each agent and each agency
then you send a one page query letter (email or hard copy, depending on what the agent wants).
hopefully, the agent will be interested and want to see more!
so, really its just a lot of hard work. you'd think that writing the darn thing would be the hard part! but no, after you finish, that's when the work begins!!!

Now that your practically a seasoned writer, what's your opinion on book tour interviews as far as internet versus live? And does it make you insane to answer the same questions over and over again?
LOL! Dunno if I'm seasoned just yet....
I love doing it all. That's really the truth. I love meeting readers at live readings-- it's so much fun to meet people.
But a forum like this is just amazing. You get to reach so many people you wouldn't have met otherwise!
So, I really love to do both. 
And no, it doesn't drive me insane to answer the same question!
It's so humbling and flattering that anyone wants to ask me anything in the first place!
And when someone's actually read my book, well, then, I just want to give them a big hug!!!!
SO, if you're in NYC, I'm reading at Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Center next Thursday, August 7.
If you come, I promise to give you a big hug!

Brenda what time are you reading at B &N in NYC?

I'll be reading at 7pm EST in New York City.
It's Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side-- Lincoln Center. That's Broadway at 66th Street.