Now this is a little bit different from all the other Girlfriends I’ve hosted because I’m not just going to talk about the latest book by Lola Douglas (a.k.a. Lara Zeises), MORE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET, which came out in paperback in February. Oh no, there is something way more exciting than that alone. The first book, TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET, has been made into a movie (soooo excited for Lola/Lara about that!), which stars multi-platinum recording artist Joanna “JoJo” Levesque and Golden Globe winner Valerie Bertinelli. The movie will premiere on Lifetime on Saturday, August 9th at 9 pm. So plan to stay in that night and pop some popcorn or if you can’t stay in, set your TiVos (or VCR in my case because I am still that out of date).
Anyway, here is a little bit more info about the book and the movie to get you all psyched up for it! My usual interview follows.
MORE CONFESSIONS OF A
Just when Morgan Carter was falling in love with the simple life she'd built in
In this sequel to True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet, Lola Douglas's heartfelt prose and headstrong heroine return to delight readers.
True Confessions of a
Here’s a recent blog post that has lots of info/links: http://zeisgeist.livejournal.com/722604.html
From Lifetime:
http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/movies/true-confessions-hollywood-starlet (main info page)
http://videos.lifetimetv.com/?fr_chl=574e072e40452f1a57bacfc402b91e0e0aa162bc&rf=sitemap (four short video clips w/ JoJo, Valerie Bertinelli, and Tim Matheson (director)
http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/movies/joanna-jojo-levesque-living-normal-life?page=0,1 (interview with JoJo)
Fun fact! Morgan’s best friend Marissa Dahl is played by Shenae Grimes, a Degrassi vet who’s now a cast member of the upcoming 90210 remake!
Okay, since I’m a Degrassi fanatic that fun fact just sold me. I’m gonna have to rush home from my reading on Saturday August 9th to check this out.
Now I’d like to introduce Lara…. Errr… Lola…. Well, her bio explains:
Lola Douglas is the author of True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet and its sequel More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet. A TV movie adaptation of True Confessions starring multi-platinum recording artist Joanna “JoJo” Levesque and Golden Globe winner Valerie Bertinelli premieres on Lifetime August 9, 2008 at 9 p.m.
Lola also happens to be the alter ego of Lara Zeises, author of Bringing Up the Bones, an honor book for the 2001 Delacorte Press Prize Competition; Contents Under Pressure, winner of the 2006 Delaware Blue Hen Teen Book Award and a 2006 IRA Young Adult Choices selection; and Anyone But You. Lara holds an MFA in creative writing from
For all of the latest Lola updates, make sure to check out Lara's LiveJournal at http://zeisgeist.livejournal.com. But today I have her here on the blog to answer some questions!
Q: Please list five songs that would be on the soundtrack to your book and explain how they relate to your story or characters.
Lola: 1. Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape,” a song which was used in an early cut of the Lifetime adaptation of MORE CONFESSIONS’ prequel, TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET (premiering August 9th at 9 p.m.)
2. “I Can’t Say No” from Oklahoma!, since Morgan’s auditioning for her school’s production of the classic American musical, and the lyrics of that song in particular mirror one of the book’s themes
3. “Frank Mills” from Hair, which is what Morgan uses as her audition piece
4. Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated,” which echos some of the problems Morgan has with her love interest, Eli
5. The Club Nouveau cover of “Lean On Me,” which plays at the school’s Winter Wonderdance and gives Morgan her typical high school movie moment
Q: Name some of your main character's favorite musicians or bands.
Lola: Morgan’s not super-invested in music. She’s got good knowledge of Broadway soundtracks, but isn’t passionate about them. She listens mostly to Top 40 stuff – whatever’s popular at the time.
Q: Who are some of your favorite musicians or bands?
Lola: I’m a huge fan of the Eels, Death Cab, Magnetic Fields, Belle & Sebastian, old-school Barenaked Ladies, old-school Beastie Boys, and a bunch others. I also like a lot of female vocalists, though my preferences change based on what’s going on in my life. Like, I love Liz Phair at her rawest, but I’m recently engaged and do not find myself wanting to commiserate with Liz. Actually, lately I’ve been the one listening to mostly showtunes, especially the soundtrack from the Broadway adaptation of LEGALLY BLONDE.
Q: Even though music plays in so heavily into my storytelling, I rarely can actually listen to it while I'm writing. Can you? How does music fit into your writing process?
Lola: Oh, I totally listen to music when I write. Not all of the time, of course, but I find music incredibly helpful in terms of getting me into a certain frame of mind. Like, party scenes – party scenes are hard for me to write. Too much to keep track of. But if I queue up a bunch of music suitable to that particular party, then I’m there, I’m in the scene. In my first novel, BRINGING UP THE BONES, there’s a scene where Bridget, the protagonist, is trying to make herself immune to this one song that reminds her of her deceased ex-boyfriend. So she sets the CD player up to repeat the song over and over (the book pre-dates iTunes, obviously) and anyway, when I wrote the scene I did the same thing, and by the end of writing it, I was bawling like a baby. It really helped me access Bridget’s emotions, and I still feel it’s a very powerful scene.
Music factors heavily into many of my books. Not so much the STARLET ones, though. I think because Morgan’s an actress most of her references have to do with movies and television.
Q: While music is my muse, I know other writers find their muse in theater, sports, art, the great outdoors, etc. What is your main muse?
Lola: I guess I would have to say music – either that or television. I do find myself watching scripted television actively, like trying to analyze how a plot unfolds, or how the character’s motivations are revealed, or what makes for amazing dialogue.
Actually, no – scratch that. I think my main muse is people, and the never-ending string of questions that tumble around my brain on a daily basis.
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