SquawkRadio

Thanks to all of our devoted Squawkees out there in Blogland, we’ll be celebrating SQUAWK RADIO’s SECOND ANNIVERSARY for the next two weeks.  That’s right, on April 18th, SQUAWK RADIO will turn two years old!  (Like most toddlers, we like to have our own way and we get pretty cranky without our naps.) Since you, our loyal and witty readers, are the ones who helped to make this moment possible, we’re going to be giving away a lot of exciting contest prizes every day for the next two weeks.  AND you can tune in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of both weeks for reprints of some of your favorite Classic Squawk Blogs. 

TODAY’S CONTEST WINNER will be chosen from our MEMBER LIST and will receive autographed books from all six Squawkers PLUS a delicious box of Godiva chocolate to savor while they’re reading!  So if you haven’t joined the MEMBER LIST, now is the time!  (And make sure and tell all of your friends!)

We’ll start off today by letting Kitty...um...Connie...explain how SQUAWK RADIO got started:  Connie writes, “It wasn’t exactly a “ta-dah” moment.  I’d been reading some blogs by other authors.  They were wonderful but definitely slanted towards writers.  I wanted to find a way to connect with readers.  Create a place where the readers could schmooze and take a peek into my glamorous life and be awed by my witty observations… But then I realized that I didn’t have a glamorous life and my witty observations could keep a blog running for about ten minutes.

The other Squawkers and I had already fallen into e-mailing each other on a daily basis about things like “Is a red wine stain a lifelong commitment?” and “Can I name my construction worker hero ‘Rod Steel?’” You know, important things.  Things women who write really talk about, but more importantly, things women really talk about.  Once I talked to Christina, it didn’t take long to realize that for all practical purposes SQUAWK RADIO already existed; we just needed to take it public.

Since no one but us read our first few exchanges on the blog, we’d like to invite you to hop into your time machine and take a trip back to MONDAY APRIL 18th 2005 when Connie first said those immortal words:

“WELCOME TO SQUAWK RADIO!”
A hearty welcome to all those who have chosen to peek in on the proceedings. We’ll be up and posting the first blog within the week--and as soon as I can figure out how to do cascading style sheets we may even have pictures of us all gracing the background of the blog!

FOUR REASONS TERESA MEDEIROS DIDN’T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN A BLOG
1) I think they’re pointless exercises in egotism. Just because I’m a bestselling author, why should anyone care what I think about the latest publishing scandal or last week’s episode of DR. PHIL? (Oh my gosh! Did anybody see it a couple of weeks ago when Sharon and Ozzy Osborne were on?)
2) Because I’m a very shy and private person who hates to reveal details about her personal life (Did I ever tell you about the time I was accidentally put in Special Ed classes in the first grade? Or what about the time I fell between the bleachers during a choral performance and decided to just stay under there for the rest of the show?)
3) I don’t read blogs
4) Because it’s just another thing to do besides actually writing a book

FOUR REASONS TERESA MEDEIROS DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE IN A BLOG
1) Connie Brockway threatened me
2) I love to play with fonts. It’s like having my very own coloring book
3) Because I’m the only one among us who regularly watches TV so I might actually have Something Important to discuss
4) Because when I told my husband about it, he said, “Oh, just another thing to do besides actually writing a book, eh?”

ELOISA ON BLOGGING AND COVERS
I think of blogging as an extension of our curious relationship to the world of publishing: we create the books that people want to read and then spend a huge amount of time negotiating the path between our computer and a bookstore. A blog (i.e., information sharing) could be a crucial instrument in the fight to succeed in this business. Or it could just be a place to share gossip. But I would prefer to see this as a place to put six best-selling minds to work on analyzing the book business.

So...on the information-sharing front, has anyone noticed that every book out there has a pair of shoes on the cover? I’m talking women’s fiction now, not romance. Romances seem to be going heavily into real estate. I’m assuming that since we write women’s fiction, art departments must want to put desirable objects on the cover. Does this mean that shoes are now the focus of women’s buying sprees? I myself seem to be putting all my money into good bras (LaPerla--there’s nothing better).

Anyone seen any terrific covers lately?

CHRISTINA ASKS, “WHO ARE WE AND WHY ARE WE WRITING?”
From Christina who thinks these important questions should be answered by someone who knows, but I’m going to take a crack at it anyway.

We’re six published writers of various genres - about a year ago we figured out how many books we had written between us and it was well over a hundred. We email everyday, amusing ourselves and each other. Or at least amusing ourselves. We share our woes and our triumphs. The best part about this group? When one of us surges ahead in publishing, the others are comfortable enough to whine, “But what about me? When do I get to win?” Occasionally if there’s too much triumph for one person, the emails will start coming in, “Who are you and why are you emailing me?” or even the succinct, un-subtle, “Bitch.” Sometimes the threat will come across email “I’m going to lapse into a sullen silence.” That never happens because nobody notices. The rest of us are too busy being entertaining. The truth is, if someone really wants to make everyone cranky, all she has to say is something like, “I’ve been bicyling and it really works! The weight is just melting away!” I don’t want to mention her initials (Teresa Medeiros) but considering some of us have an April 30 deadline and are doing nothing but sit in front of the computer (initials Christina Dodd), that was just mean.

How close are we? We talk about our periods. THAT’S the ultimate female bonding.

So we know how long WE’VE been here, but how long have YOU readers been here?  Did any of you discover us at the beginning and just HOW did you discover SQUAWK RADIO?  A timely twist of fate?  An unfortunate accident?  A savvy friend who recognized our erudite brilliance?  (And could somebody please look up erudite and tell us what it means.)

AND TUNE IN THIS AFTERNOON FOR ANOTHER TRIP BACK IN TIME AS LISA AND LIZ JOIN US IN OUR SQUAWK TIME MACHINE!!!  AND CHECK BACK AFTER 7 PM CENTRAL WHEN TODAY’S CONTEST WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED!