Time to Try Again

ABC is bringing a new sitcom into the lineup April 3rd - How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life). The main character, Polly, comes back to live with her parents bringing her daughter along.

I need to get copies of my book "The Crowded Nest Syndrome" to the producers and see if they won't use it in one of their scripts! My book is an Erma Bombeck like experience about living with returning adult children. It would be perfect for the show.

All I can do is try, eh? Autographed copies with cover letters being very professional and respectful, eh?

Okay, that's my goal this weekend - to find names and addresses and mail out x-amount of copies of CNS and try to drum up some attention for my title.

They Stole My Idea

A nightmare for most beginning writers, they stress over sharing their synopsis or manuscript with authors or would-be publishers because they believe their work is THE one to be a best seller and made into a box-office draw. Someone might steal their idea. While every writer should feel passionate about their storyline, the truth is there may be dozens or hundreds of manuscripts based on similar characters or circumstances as yours.

Coming out this month is the new Jennifer Aniston movie "The Switch" based on a woman having artifical insemination (AI) to conceive a baby. My romantic comedy "Changes in Attitude" is all about a woman's decision to have AI - but did I panic that somewhere while shopping my manuscript around, someone pilfered the idea? Heavens no. Women have been using AI for decades and since the 70's women have been yelling about their individuality and how a man is as necessary as bicycle to a fish.

Would I like my book made into a major motion picture? You betcha. Can there be another romantic comedy made about artificial insemination? You bet. As an author you believe in your work and market with the attitude that some day it'll happen to you. Though I always saw Julia Roberts playing the protagonist in my book! Sorry, Jen.

Summers not over - grab a copy of "Changes in Attitude" and enjoy a good read.

Latest Novel - New Partnership

Olympia, WA - As many of you know my resume includes not only author and speaker, but publisher and ghostwriter. With ghostwriting you are not usually at liberty to discuss the project(s) or the client. In this case I've become a partner with Randi Altschul on our first book Sorry, You Can't Enter Heaven.

Recently published by iUniverse, Sorry is a fast, fun read about personal empowerment and the choices we make in life. What if you arrived at Heaven but couldn’t get in because you’d had cosmetic surgery. You’re not…you. For vanity’s sake, you changed the original packaging and altered your destiny. CEO Lisa Michaels finds out death isn’t her only challenge.

Sorry is available for purchase online at iUniverse.com, Amazon.com and BN.com.

As the success for this first book grows, Randi and I are already teaming up for our next novel. Stay tuned.

What Is That?

Olympia, WA: With the cooler days of autumn up here in the Pacific Northwest, the leaves are changing colors and football season is in full swing. I live in a football family: from a husband who played with USC in the early Seventies, National Championship, two Rose Bowl games to Joshua, 13, playing on Tumwater Middle School Firebird 8th grade team and Thurston County Youth Football League and Isaiah, 8, playing his second year with TCYFL.
This means I'm on the sidelines of a football field for hours. Now I'm one of the loudest during the game, they know their Gramma is cheering them on. But the boys have to be there an hour before the game for warm ups. Hmm, what's a writer to do for an hour? (raising my hand) I know, pull out my trusty AlphaSmart and start clicking away.
A what? I can already hear the questions. I get them all the time at the stadiums. "What is that?" An AlphaSmart 3000. Okay, mine is already five or six years old. There are newer versions available from the company. This portable, light weight piece of genius running 700 hours on three (3) double AA batteries, holding over 100 pages of text should be in every writer's arsenal.
Read those details again. I can pull out my AlphaSmart and have whole scenes sketched out for a novel, or punch up character details, or work on my latest book proposal while sitting in a cold, damp stadium on a Saturday morning. It automatically saves and I can upload the pages to Word when I get home.
I've used it sitting in my car in a parking lot ten, fifteen minutes before going into my day job. My AlphaSmart goes with me through Little League season year after year. There is no excuse not to be able to write a page a day or more when you have an AlphaSmart in your briefcase or bag. Eight files can store multiple works in progress.
What is it? An AlphaSmart is a writer's best friend for getting a first draft down, for punching up a scene, for brainstorming a new non-fiction book, or a timely article about first aid on a football field.
Hmm, the holidays are coming. I think you'd better order one for yourself. You deserve it.

June 12 is CNS Awareness Day

Olympia, Washington, June 6, 2007—What’s Crowded Nest Syndrome? It’s when your home, your nest if you will, includes more than just yourself and/or your spouse. A crowded nest can involve returning adult children, taking care of aging parents, raising grandchildren, or any other relatives or friends that move in.

You Know You’re Living in a Crowded Nest When…

• Your other car is a U-Haul.


• You have to take a number to use the bathroom.


• There’s a waiting list for the washing machine.


• The fire department pulls your occupancy permit.


• You go to use your car on Monday morning and the gas tank is empty.


• You buy $250 worth of groceries and it disappears in less than 24 hours.
  

June 12 is CNS Awareness Day. If you don’t live in a crowded nest, be grateful. If you know someone who does, take them out to dinner, give them two tickets to a movie, anything to get them out of the house for some peace and quiet.

Rules to Survive Crowded Nest Syndrome:

• Do not make them comfortable; they will never leave.
  Padlock everything, the washer & dryer, the refrigerator and your bathroom.


• More Laundry + More People = Cold Showers
  Hot water tanks handle only so much. Get yours in first.


• Take care of yourself; no one else will.
  Find your happy place and go there—often. Eat right, exercise, and hide out at Wal-Mart, at least they’re paid to smile at you.


• You have the right to eat your own leftovers.
  Boomerangs go right for Styrofoam boxes, doggie bags. Hide them in the vegetable bin.


• This is not the Marriott, no Free Amenities.
  Set up a schedule for the computer, the telephone and the television. Charge for them accordingly. Laundry services? Sure, at so much per load.
  
  CNS Commandments
  Whoever wakes up first has access to the most.
  Chocolate is sacred, hoard it
  When all else fails, double your Prozac.
  

Happy CNS Awareness Day, June 12th.

Copyright © 2007, Kathleen Shaputis is the author of “The Crowded Nest Syndrome,” a humorous look at a growing trend in America. Available at Amazon.com and www.Shaputis.com.

The Year of 9's

2007 should be a lucky year for me, it's a 9 year.
2+0+0+7=9
I love 9's and this year falls into a bushel of them. I celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary in September. (And they said it would never last.) Then I turn 54, another 9! Should I play the lottery? Swing by the Indian casino? How do you take advantage of such atypical momentum?

So far, it seems no different. I'm deep into my day job working with authors at Gorham Printing. Short-run digital printing is becoming more and more popular. I presented at Write On the Beach Writers Conference in January, encouraging the students. Independent publishing can be quite successful if they're ready to put their shoulder to the market madness.

I'm shopping for an agent with Randi Altschul for our commercial women's fiction titled "Sorry, You Can't Enter Heaven." Wish us luck. Buck Henry's read it and loved it. It's great fodder for water cooler talk, and a film vehicle for seasoned actresses like Susan Sarandon or Sally Fields. I'm ready to go Hollywood.

What’s Your PH Factor?
New book explores folk hero obsession

Olympia, Washington: Hundreds of thousands of people across the country have the PH factor, do you? This PH stands for Parrot Head. The man of Margaritaville fame and 2004’s bestselling album License to Chill, Jimmy Buffett fans are called Parrot Heads. The PH factor can be described as a way of enjoying life – working hard and relaxing slow, watching the sunset over Key West, Florida with the smell of salt water no matter where you live.

Kathleen Shaputis, of Olympia, Washington, and her husband, Bob, are Parrot Heads. In her debut novel Changes in Attitude Shaputis has a triangle of friends around the protagonist Allie trying to understand her obsession with Jimmy Buffett, and her new maternal quest of having a baby. Allie cybershops for a father with a PH factor (Parrot Head genes).

For over thirty years Jimmy Buffet has told stories with a Caribbean rock n roll sound. Out of the crowds in sold out concerts, year after year, came flamboyant fans dressed in bright costumes of tropical shirts with shark fins, parrots or cheeseburgers on their heads. Though not exactly sure who started the Parrot Head concept, Parrot Heads in Paradise, was created to link over 200 registered PH clubs around the world.

“Jimmy’s music speaks to your heart,” Shaputis said. “I want non-Parrot Heads to find out about this remarkable man, and fellow Parrot Heads to enjoy a good story.”

What’s your PH factor? How much do you know about this performer, author, philanthropist and his music? Take this short quiz:

· What’s the special ingredient of the Cheeseburger in Paradise?
· When is Jimmy’s birthday?
· Finish the line: two-tone jacket like (2 words) and an autograph picture of (2 words)?

Whether you’re a die hard fan, a weekend feathered friend, or a card-carrying member of a sanctioned club partying for charity, being a Parrot Head means “phun.”

(Press release courtesy of Clutter Fairy Publishing, 2006)

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut

Entering the world of blogging (kicking and screaming) I am a still a newbie of sorts. With three grandsons living in the house, I tend to rush to my day job before dawn and arrive back after the evening news. My day job? It's with Gorham Printing, a short-run book printer. I work with authors all day long. Not bad getting paid to work with authors, eh? So let this be my first, miniscule leap into the world of blog. I'll be back.