Q&A with Author Tracie Banister

I am thrilled to welcome to Princess With a Pen today, my friend and fellow author, Tracie Banister!  Tracie is one of my Dancing With the Stars blogging buddies, and is a ray of sunshine in my day.  She is stopping by today to chat about her latest novel, In Need of Therapy, which is patiently waiting for me on my Kindle like so many books in queue.  Sound familiar?  Everyone, give a big lovey-dovey squeeze to Tracie!

You and I are friends and author buddies, but many do not know that I love calling you my “Georgia Peach.”  Tell us about southern living!  Did you grow up in Georgia?

Although I was not born and raised in Georgia, I've been here for 27 years now, so I consider myself a Georgian through and through.  I even have the accent (or so I'm told.)  To my ear, I still sound like the Valley Girl I was during my tween years in SoCal.  Like ohmigod, gag me with a spoon.  I love almost everything about living in the south (I regret to say that humidity and I will never be friends.)  What I think is lovely about this part of the country is how warm and friendly the people are.  I am a creature of habit, so I frequent the same stores and restaurants each week and I'm always greeted with "How are you, Miss Tracie?" everywhere I go.  I love the Miss Tracie thing!  Makes me feel like I'm in Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatoes.

One of the passions you and I share is the movie, Gone With the Wind.  I wore out my mom’s VHS tape watching it so many times as a teen.  Now as an adult, and a mother, I tune in only until Bonnie Blue Butler’s birth.  It’s so sad after that, and my heart cannot take it.  What is it about that movie that draws you in?

Gone With the Wind is just a wonderful story, very epic in scope with well-defined characters, wonderful plot twists, and one of the all-time great romances.  I really connected with Scarlett O'Hara as a heroine and female archetype.  Although she was selfish and imperfect, I admired how strong, stubborn, passionate, and determined she was.  Funny you should say that the ending of the movie makes you sad.  I love the ending of GWTW!  Even though Scarlett has suffered some terrible losses (the miscarriage, Bonnie's death, Rhett walking out on her) and she appears to be down for the count, she thinks of her beloved Tara and rallies, saying, "I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back!  After all, tomorrow is another day!"  The music swells, the camera fades out to show Scarlett standing on the hillside that overlooks her family home, and you know that this woman will pull her life together, get her man back, and be happy again because she is a survivor.

Did you know that Cammie King Conlon wrote a memoir about her role as Bonnie Blue in GWTW?  I had no idea until I was researching for our chat!

I did not know that!  I remember reading that Evelyn Keyes, who played Sue Ellen O'Hara in GWTW, had written an autobiography called "Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister," but I've never read it.  I have read countless biographies of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, though!  And I have all sorts of books about the making of GWTW, trivia about the film, etc. lying around.

I am so excited about your new novel, In Need of Therapy!  How did this story evolve?  How was writing this novel different for you than your first, Blame It on the Fame?

      In passing, my mother said, "You should write a book about a female psychologist" and a light bulb went off over my head.  I've always been fascinated by psychology and took several courses on the subject in school, so I knew that writing a book from the POV of a newbie psychologist was something I could have fun with.  All of my books have humor in them, so I took a lighthearted approach to the shrink thing and had a blast coming up with all of Pilar (my heroine's) patients and their issues, as well as how she interacted with them in session.  Deciding to set the book in Miami and making the character a Latina who had a demanding, over-the-top family and a disastrous love life helped me to flesh out the characters and sub-plots in the book, and then I was off to the races. 

      Writing In Need of Therapy differed from writing Blame It on the Fame in a couple of ways.  First of all, Therapy was written as a first-person narrative, so the focus was all on the heroine (her thoughts, her feelings, her perception of things.)  In Blame, there were five heroines, which meant a third-person narrative with me having to establish strong, distinctive "voices" for all five, so the reader would be able to identify the characters quickly and easily.  You'd think that the book with the five lead characters would be the harder one to write, but I found writing in first-person to be challenging.  In a good way, of course, as I like to try something new with each book so that I can keep myself on my toes and continue to hone my craft.  Another big difference between the two books was the tone.  Along with the humor, there was some major high-stakes drama in Blame It on the Fame as all five of the heroines were competing against each other for the Best Actress Oscar while dealing with a variety of personal problems.  I had to be true to the Hollywood setting of Blame, which meant getting a little racy with the language and love scenes.  With Therapy, the lead character is very grounded and nice (something I can't say about most of the characters in Blame!)  And the focus in Therapy was on romance and falling in love while in Blame most of the characters were already in long-term relationships, so the focus was more on marital discord, steamy hook-ups, etc.  I view Blame as one of those glitzy, steamy celebrity-packed mini-series that used to air on TV back in the '80s (i.e. Bare Essence, Lace, I'll Take Manhattan) while In Need of Therapy is like one of those fun, date night, romantic comedies you'd see a young Sandra  Bullock or Reese Witherspoon in. 

Click HERE to purchase from Amazon

     You won tickets to any play, past or present, on Broadway and the best part is you’re taking me!  What are we going to do while in NYC, besides stalk Matt Lauer for my daughter, Gracie, before the curtain rises?  What show are we going to hold Playbills for in our hot little hands?

      Well, I am currently obsessed with seeing the upcoming revival of The Heiress, which will be playing at The Walter Kerr Theater this fall/winter.  The cast is filled with some of my favorites, Jessica Chastain (Loved her in The Help!), Dan Stevens (So dreamy in Downton Abbey!), and the always-amazing David Strathairn.  So, that's the play I'd be thrilled to win tickets to!  ***GWTW tie-in: Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind, won her second Oscar for the lead role in the 1949 film version of The Heiress.*** 

      As for what you, Gracie, and I could do while in NYC, we'd have to go to some museums (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum - Gracie could get her picture taken with Matt Lauer there!)  We'd have to stop by FAO Schwarz, which is just as much fun for adults as it is children!  And we could take the ferry out to Ellis Island and see the Statue of Liberty, which is something I've never done in all of my trips to New York!  

      What’s next on deck for you in the world of writing?

      As I said, I like to challenge myself and do something a little different with each book, so next on deck for me is a Regency Chick Lit.  Yes, that's right.  I've made up my own genre! :)  I've always considered Jane Austen to be the Mother of Chick Lit with her wonderful books, which were comedies of manners about young women looking for love.  So, I wanted to write something in that vein.  I'm hoping that my Regency book will be the first in a series as I introduce several supporting characters in this one whom I look forward to focusing on in future novels.  For now, I am working on telling the story of the eldest daughter in an aristocratic family who is making her debut into society.  You'll all have to read the book to find out what happens to her, but let's just say that a bad case of tonsillitis, handsome men (some suitable, some not), chicanery, a pregnant Spaniel, and a matchmaking aunt are involved! 

      Some readers may not realize that you and our gal pal, blogger Michelle Bell, baptized me into the world of Dancing With the Stars earlier this spring.  So much so, we began blogging together about it this past season and will return with comments and play-by-play this fall.  What is it about the world of ballroom you adore? 

     I grew up watching old, black-and-white Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films on TV late at night, so I've always had an affinity for ballroom dance.  And there's just something so campy and fun about Dancing With the Stars - the sparkly, neon-colored costumes, the Latin and Ballroom routines set to totally inappropriate modern-day tunes, all of the fighting between the C-list stars and their tantrum-prone professional partners - that's Must See TV for me! :) 

Thanks for having me on Princess with a Pen, Jen!  I had a great time! 

I love spending time with you Tracie, thank you for stopping by!  Tracie would love for one lucky reader to win a copy of her new book, In Need of Therapy!  Below are the official rules!

For anyone who'd like to be entered to win an e-book copy (ePub or Mobi version) of my romance and comedy-filled Chick Lit novel, In Need of Therapy, please leave a comment below telling me what your favorite summer vacation spot is.  Please leave your email address as well so you can be contacted, otherwise your entry will not be valid.  WINNER CHOSEN ON AUG. 10!  Good luck to all!   

Author Bio:  An avid reader and writer, Tracie Banister has been scribbling stories since she was a child, most of them featuring feisty heroines with complicated love lives like her favorite fictional protagonist Scarlett O'Hara.  Her work was first seen on the stage of her elementary school, where her 4th grade class performed an original holiday play that she penned (Like all good divas-in-the-making, she, also, starred in and tried to direct the production.)  Her dreams of authorial success were put on the backburner when she reached adulthood and discovered that she needed a "real" job in order to pay her bills.  Her career as personal assistant to a local entrepreneur lasted for 12 years.  When it ended, Tracie decided to follow her bliss and dedicate herself to writing full-time.  Her debut novel, the Hollywood-themed Blame It on the Fame, was released in January, 2012.  And she's following that up with the fun summer read, In Need of Therapy.  

Book blurb:  Lending a sympathetic ear and dispensing sage words of advice is all part of the job for psychologist Pilar Alvarez, and she’s everything a good therapist should be:  warm, compassionate, supportive.  She listens, she cares, and she has all the answers, but how’s the woman everyone turns to in their hour of need supposed to cope when her own life starts to fall apart?

While working hard to make a success of her recently-opened practice in trendy South Beach, Pilar must also find time to cater to the demands of her boisterous Cuban family, which includes younger sister Izzy, an unemployed, navel-pierced wild child who can't stay out of trouble, and their mother, a beauty queen turned drama queen who’s equally obsessed with her fading looks and getting Pilar married before it’s “too late.”  Although she’d like to oblige her mother and make a permanent love connection, Pilar’s romantic prospects look grim.  Her cheating ex, who swears that he’s reformed, is stalking her.  A hunky, but strictly off-limits, patient with bad-boy appeal and intimacy issues is making passes.  And the sexy shrink in the suite across the hall has a gold band on his left ring finger.

When a series of personal and professional disasters lead Pilar into the arms of one of her unsuitable suitors, she's left shaken, confused, and full of self-doubt.  With time running out, she must make sense of her feelings and learn to trust herself again so that she can save her business, her family, and most importantly, her heart.

Purchase In Need of Therapy at:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/In-Need-of-Therapy-ebook/dp/B008N6Z36Y

Amazon UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Need-of-Therapy-ebook/dp/B008N6Z36Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342893151&sr=1-1

Tracie's blog:  http://traciebanister.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/traciebanister

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/tracie.banister

 Have a great weekend!

XOXO

Jen

Dancing With the Stars Week 8

  

  It was a night of pairs and trios on week 8 of Dancing With the Stars, and the contestants were ready to rumble!  The energy the guest dancers brought to their trios helped each couple step up their game tonight.  Last week, we said goodbye to Jaleel White as he was eliminated from the competition.  Tonight’s stars face a double elimination this week; be still my beating heart!

     Joining me are my favorites gals bringing you their take on the performances in the ballroom.  Author Tracie Banister, blogger Michelle Bell, and my little peanut pie Gracie.  Due to DVR technical difficulties, Gracie did not have the opportunity to watch the entire lineup of performances.  However, her looksee into the first 28 minutes of the show will keep the conversation colorful.  Let’s roll!

Standout Performance of the week:  

Michelle: William and Cheryl's foxtrot was definitely my favorite and I think they deserved the 30 that they received.  Cheryl is such an amazing choreographer for most dances and the foxtrot is one that she does well with. Their costumes, the song, and the smooth dancing...all perfect.

For the trio dances, I really enjoyed almost all of them, but I think the best was Donald, Peta, and Karina.  Donald takes risks and he is the one that keeps improving more and more each week.  Don't count him out as the possible winner of it all.

Tracie: No question - it was the trio jive that Donald Driver did with Peta and Karina.  The joint was jumpin' with that number and Donald killed it!  I just loved everything about his performance.  He was so relaxed, his musicality was fantastic, and he kept up with those two amazing female pros who were dancing their butts off!  I have already re-watched that Jive three (ha!) times on You Tube this morning.  That Jive was THE dance of the season for me.  So much fun!

Jen: William and Cheryl earned that 30!  Classy, brilliant; bellissimo! 

Topping any of the duo performances was Donald and Peta’s trio!  Joined by Karina, I felt that sparkly Elvis had entered the building!  Amazing timing, brilliantly choreographed; kudos!

Gracie: Maria really made me smile today because she made me forget all about her vampire issues last week.  She was like a dainty flower that spins in the wind.

Mom’s note: Aww……..

This Was Definitely Not Your Dance - Worst Performance:

Michelle: While the judges loved Maria and Derek's dance, I found nothing about it that pulled me in. But it was, unfortunately, Melissa and Maks that had the worst dance of the week.  Maks was clearly frustrated with Melissa this week and was visibly unhappy with the way the dance went and the fact that they showed the rehearsal footage that they did. (Maks has a fiery temper, it doesn't even faze me when he goes nutballs on someone anymore.)  The dance started out with some stumbling errors and at that point, Maks appeared to shut down. 


For the trio, the worst thing Roshon and Chelsie could do was bring Sasha in to dance with them.  It showcased how talented HE was and how well he and Chelsie danced together, leaving Roshon hanging out there as the weakest link.

Tracie: Oh, geez, I don't know.  It's hard to bag on anyone at this late stage of the game.  But if I'm honest, I wasn't crazy about the trio Bollywood number with Derek, Henry, and Maria.  I'm actually a big fan of Bollywood musicals and could boogie down to "Jai Ho" all day long, but that was supposed to be a SAMBA, Derek!  And Len was right about there being very little Samba flavor or technique in that dance.  I didn't think that Maria danced that well with two partners, either.  The whole routine gets a big "Whatever" from me.

Jen: You know, I think the remaining contestants have all fought hard to remain in the competition and came to play tonight.  Tonight it was a matter of whose dance I did not connect with.  While lovely and dreamy a dancer as always, I did not connect tonight with Katherine and Mark’s performance.  Katherine shines as a dancer, and the routine did not woo me.  I would have loved to see her challenged with tough moves.   

The Tina Sparkle Award for best use of sequins and spandex:

Michelle: Shallow moment...I loved Maks and his nerd glasses! Okay, now that is out of the way...I think that Katherine looked like a sweet princess in her lovely pastel and lace dress tonight.  The upswept hairdo was very flattering for her.  In the trio dances, I absolutely loved Cheryl's purple and black dress.  Very sexy and Spanish, the perfect dress for the Paso.

Tracie: I was seriously in love with Cheryl's Paso Doble dress.  Body-hugging purple lace with black fringe?  How could any woman go wrong with that combo?  It was sexy and perfectly suited to a Latin dance.  Cheryl's slicked back chignon with the purple flower tucked behind her ear was aces, as well.  I'd also like to give a shout-out to Brooke, who looked gorgeous from head to toe last night!  That beautifully fitted peach gown (with no boobage for a change!) and her straight, softly swept to the side hairstyle were the epitome of understated elegance.  Brava! 

Jen: Remember when I complained about William not being naked nearly enough?  There is nothing like a tuxedo to make me swoon.  William was dashing!  Married with Cheryl’s lovely gown, hands down the loveliest costumes of the night. 

Gracie: When I saw Katherine walk down those stairs when they said her name, I just felt like she was Cinderella walking down the stairs to dance at the ball.  Do you think Katherine has mean stepsisters in her real life?  How could anyone be mean to her?

This just in . . . the wardrobe department hates you!

Michelle: I LOVE Sheldon Cooper in a plaid suit on The Big Bang Theory.  On Roshon, not so much. It was a very silly look for him that I think fell flat.  Peta looked like a ballroom dominatrix tonight.  Not a good look for her, either.

Tracie: I'm not sure if it's the wardrobe dept. that hates Melissa, or if it's Maks since he's the "mastermind" behind all of her costumes, but dear Lord, her tiger-striped Foxtrot dress was Hideous with a capital H!  I hate dresses that have huge bits of flesh-colored stretch fabric for modesty purposes.  It's always an eyesore and it didn't even work in Melissa's case because she had tons of cleavage showing down the center, as well as major side boob!  So tacky on a woman of her age!  And the shape of the dress made her look like she had no waist.  Just UGH!

Jen: Holy boobalicious Batman!  Yikes on Melissa’s dress this evening.

Gracie: Oh my goodness…  Did you see that tiger lady (Melissa)?  I say it every week!  Put your clothes on, people!  Why do you have to be naked on tv?

What were the judges' smoking?

Michelle: "8" seemed to be the magic number of the night.  Bruno was in his typical lecherous mood, but Len and Carrie Ann were a bit cranky. Of course, we are heading to the semi-finals and they want to see massive improvement and the wow factor. I do NOT agree with the two 10's that were given to Roshon and Chelsie for their first dance.  I think the judges feel bad because he had his grandmas in the audience.

Bruno was the first to take the trio aspect and run with the one liner - "It is so hard keeping in sync with a threesome."  Bwahaha!

Tracie: It really irks me when the judges' comments don't match their scores.  They all flipped out over Donald's trio Jive and praised it to the high heavens, then gave him a combined score of 28?  That means they thought Roshon's and William's Foxtrots were BETTER than that awesome, crowd-pleasing Jive?  Ridiculous!

Jen: We three seem to have the same difficulty tonight with scoring not reflecting accurately compared to comments by judges.  The scoring for trios was difficult for me to swallow.  I find it very difficult to come to terms with the judges giving a ravishing trio score to Roshon and William’s teams respectively against Donald’s Jive.  Something is amiss in the ballroom.

Tom Bergeron's best one-liner:

Michelle: I had figured that Tom would get that threesome line in first, but he refrained.  He called out the fact that Len obviously had it in for Derek tonight with "They got two nines and one mood swing."

Tracie: Hee hee!  I'm still laughing over Tom saying that Maks and Val were wearing outfits from "The Larry King Chippendale Collection" (they were shirtless with suspenders holding their pants up.)  Funny, and so true!

Jen: In reply to Len’s comment to Roshon’s trio, that the men looked like, “two skinny fries chasing the ketchup” when dancing with Chelsie; I loved that Tom said, “WOW!  Someone just had a Happy Meal!”  

The "Oh, Brooke!" moment of the week:

Michelle: Brooke clearly was hoping to get something more out of Melissa and Maks when she brought up the rugged rehearsal footage that was shown, especially with the query of "Maks, are you okay?"  The look on his face was all "sit down and shut up."

Tracie: Brooke is in my good graces this week for holding both Derek and Maks accountable for their unprofessional and borderline abusive behavior towards their partners in rehearsal this week.  She didn't let either one of them off the hook and basically got them both to apologize, so kudos to her for standing up for the ladies!

Jen: Tonight was the night that Brooke asked questions I wanted to hear answers too!  I loved that she asked the teams that struggled with relationship strain in rehearsals about the tension.  Great job, Brooke!

Gracie: Peanut Butter Noise?  That’s that girl’s name??  Brooke said it was Peanut Butter Noise! 

*Mom’s note: Gracie would be referring to Peta Murgatroyd*

 

Time to hang up your dancing shoes:

Michelle: Melissa and Maks should not make the semi-finals.  Yes, they have a pretty strong fanbase that MIGHT save them, but if it comes down to talent and not a popularity contest, then they will go home tomorrow night.  As much as Melissa tries, she isn't improving enough to go any further.

Joining them should be Roshon and Chelsie.  They have been barely skating by for a couple of weeks now and I think tomorrow they will finally be escorted off the show.  Besides, how boring would their free-style be when you know they would just pull out a Michael Jackson dance since that is what Roshon falls back on all the time.

Tracie: Although she did improve a lot this week, I think it is way past time for Melissa to hit the Jimmy Kimmel show and have her dancing shoes burned.  She seems to have a huge fanbase power-voting for her, though, so who knows?  Roshon had quite a comeback and got good scores from the judges.  I fear that Katherine may be in jeopardy, along with Maria.  This whole double elimination thing is scary!  If I had my druthers, it would be Melissa and Maria going, but I wouldn't be at all surprised by a "SHOCKING!" elimination (Katherine, William, Donald - please, no!)  Tonight's results show will definitely be a nailbiter!

Jen:  Roshon and Chelsie finished with high scores this week, and worked hard to improve.  I am not convinced it is enough to keep them from the bottom two again this week.  I think we will also see Melissa and Maks meet up with Roshon and Chelsie as most likely to go home.  Although both teams worked hard this season, I think we are down to the best of the best staying, and the remaining four couples are just that.  In my Final Four, that does not include Roshon or Melissa. 

Gracie: *sing songy voice* People go home… People hug their dogs…  People eat ice cream…  So really, losing just means you sleep in now and quit breaking your feet and bumping your head when you practice your dancing.  I think that is a great reason to go home and lose!

See you next week!

XOXO

Michelle, Tracie, Jen & Gracie