Lipstick's Novel - Jukebox

Hi friends, although we've moved our blog over to Curve's website, I thought I'd post some info about my debut novel, Jukebox here, too.

You can read all about it HERE.

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Jukebox: A Love Story

Sooooooooooooo. Lipstick has some big news that I've yet to officially announce here on our blog....

My stellar, rockstar literary agent, Holly Bemiss, sold my debut novel, Jukebox to Bella Books. It will be sizzling on bookshelves in November of this year.

In short, Jukebox is a coming-of-age love story, chronicling the heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting tale about two debutantes who fall in love--with each other. More>>

I've been working on Jukebox since the beginning of time, it seems; well, at least the beginning of my lesbian time. It started out as my senior thesis at Pacific University, while I was in their creative writing program and has since evolved in many incarnations. In 2004, the manuscript, while a work in progress, won a generous Filmmaker Fund grant from POWER UP.

You can read an excerpt from the novel at http://www.jukeboxnovel.com/

Since Holly sold it, I've been working with Katherine V. Forrest on editorial and she's phenomenal.

I've also adapted the story into a screenplay. When I finished the first draft in October, I sent it to Power Up, who gave me incredibly, insightful notes (thank you Chris, et al.). After I finish with my edits for Bella Books, I'll be back in the saddle again tearing the screenplay apart and reworking it. More on that down the road, as it evolves. (It will one day be a feature film and I'll be directing it. First, though, I've just got to get some more experience under my belt and check a few more things off my "to do" list.)

The trailer is below. To join the Jukebox mailing list, go HERE.

To subscribe to my YouTube channel, go HERE.

If you go to the Jukebox website, turn up your volume and hear the fabulous Bonnie Ste-Croix.

The Heat is On

Dipstick, while you're over there watching your womens b-ball (go Devils!), I'm up here in Vancouver finishing the final touches of a novel I've been working on since the beginning of time (when God used his wand or when there was a big explosion, whichever--if either--is true).

I've written about my novel here before, back when I was looking for an agent, but now I am like 48 hours from finishing these final revisions.

My agent, Holly Bemiss, has probably given up on me at this point, as the last draft I sent her was over a year ago. Since then, however, I've been like a gold miner, blasting huge sticks of dynamite to get rid of things and create new material, and skillfully (hopefully) using my little pick to clear away the debris around the sparkling veins throughout the story. I hope I've succeeded.

So, I'll keep you posted here as this unfolds for me. I'm anxious to see where she'll place the novel and when it will be available. Its working title is Jukebox and it's a coming of age love story about two debutantes who fall in love.

Stay tuned. There will be much more to come soon!

Psst: I'm in pre-production on the film, too.

* This image is NOT the cover of the book.

The Home Stretch... Or So I Hope

So, I've been working on a novel now for seven years. This is a different book than the one just released by Dipstick and I, which you can buy HERE.

For this work of fiction, which has been quite the labor of love, the first glimmer of inspiration came back in 2000. Notes mainly. In 2001, when I was in my creative writing program at Pacific Univeristy, it started to take form as my senior thesis.

I've completely rewritten it five times (that doesn't include the millions of revisions) and it's gone from first person to third person limited. Nearly every day of those seven years--save two patches when I was moving and when I was writing the L & D book--I have worked on this novel. Earlier this summer, I started looking for an literary agent. It was a grueling process, both emotionally and mentally. Just putting your work out there--especially fiction, for some reason--was a feat in itself.

Last month, I was picked up by a literary agent in New York, a woman I'm very excited about. I believe we've come together by fate. As an editorial agent, she's given me very insightful feedback that I've been applying to the novel for the last few weeks. I just got back from Kinkos, where I had the final draft bound so I could read it in the next fews days. I've also given a copy to Texas, Hoogs and Minx, who will be eagle-eyeing for me, too.

The novel, which is about two debutantes who fall in love, is a coming of age story that examines how fear, shame and money manifest in our lives. With it, like all artists, I hope to change the world--if only one life that's made easier because of the story.

Beyond the novel, I've also began adapting it to a screenplay, which is also really coming together. I'm about halfway done now. I will start marketing that in the next few weeks in tandem.

Send good creative juju in the universe for both projects. I could sure use it.

Cheers to the future.

Lip

PS: The picture is of me when I first started writing this novel. I kid; it's of me writing in high school at our kitchen table. How about that ponytail! I think I'd curled it with a curling iron.

The Clock is Ticking

And that doesn't mean I'm ready to have a baby. It means I'm going stir crazy as I wait to hear back from literary agents about the arm I cut off and sent them.

I'll back up a minute. About a month ago, I finished my first novel. It's a super sexy story about two girls--Grace and Caroline--who fall in love. Here's the synopsis:

Have you ever had a secret? One that climbed through your window at night?

Caroline Dillon had one of those secrets--the kind you wouldn’t dare write in your diary. Her secret: Grace Dunlop, a fellow debutante who blew Caroline’s world apart like a stick of dynamite when they fell in love.

As their childhood friendship--one touched by the country club, best friend charms and black tie balls-ignites into a fiery kiss, they’re thrown into a world of underground passion as they try and keep their relationship a secret. From stealing kisses in bathroom stalls to purposefully bringing guys to their sorority house, these femme lovers do everything they can to throw people off their blazing trail. But are they fooling everyone? And are they able to withstand the heat?

High Fidelity meets Legally Blonde and Personal Best, this sexy manuscript is loosely centered on the jukebox at a Scottsdale dive bar. Deeply in love and in the closet, Caroline and Grace rely on the music to communicate, sending cryptic messages across the smoky room to one another with each song. The jukebox is initially the apple, the forbidden fruit they offer each other in the shaded lyrics.

As the closet door becomes too hot to handle, Caroline and Grace’s sizzling love affair is prematurely squelched…but deep beneath the rubble, the coals are still burning, and it’s not until a decade later, when they’ve both settled into their lives, that they meet again and are forced to deal with the smoldering ruins.

Are you salivating yet? Well, as I type, fates wheels are turning as I wait to hear back from a few literary agents I've sent the story to. So, soon, hopefully it will be at a bookstore near you. Currently, I'm also burning the midnight oil as I adapt it into a screenplay (more on that later).

Have any of you ever been through this agonizing process? Does anyone out there have any good literary agent connections? If so, I'd love to hear from you: lipstick@lipstickdipstick.com

xo