Hamlett, Writer

It All Begins With "Once Upon a Time"

Hamlett — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:53:33 -0800

“The world is a book,” wrote Saint Augustine, “and those who do not travel read only one page.”

If frequent flyer miles were awarded for every book she has read since childhood, Maureen Palacios would have enough to have circled the globe more times than she can count. The owner of Once Upon a Time Book Store – the oldest children’s bookstore in the nation – is happily surrounded by what she loves best: books, books and more books. With a laugh she divulges that the only thing she needs more of is the time to actually read all of them.

Cold Nose, Warm Heart: How a Musical About Dogs Came To Be

Hamlett — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:14:09 -0700

In the 21st century, we tend to take for granted we can strike up email conversations with strangers a world away, solicit advice from writer chat rooms, and get instant feedback on cyber- pitched proposals that previously used to take weeks – or sometimes months – for a reply. Advances in technology have brought us spiffy computer programs that free us from the tedium of creating specialized script templates, the annoyance of repagination to accommodate edits, and – thanks to voice recognition packages – not even having to touch a keyboard as we compose our thoughts.

Summertime and the reading is breezy

Hamlett — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:22:10 -0700

When I was growing up, I lived for summer vacations and all the glorious free time it represented for me to bury my nose in a book. There was a library within walking distance of our house that could easily have become my home-away-from-home. I’d check out the maximum number of titles that I could (I think the limit was three), read them all by bedtime (and sometimes even under the covers with my Girl Scout flashlight), and then be back the next day as soon as the doors opened to check out three more.

Same Limbs, Different Venue

Hamlett — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:01:09 -0700

My romantic suspense, Charade was only the third time I’d ventured into penning a sizzling scene but I was apparently getting rather good at it. So good, in fact, that my editor at HarperCollins – a naive and bespectacled young woman whom I suspected at the time had never set foot outside the comfort zone of her own borough – requested that I “turn down the heat”.

Fifteen-Year-Old Girls Are Invisible

Hamlett — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:56:14 -0700

When I was 15, no one could see me. No one who really mattered, that is, which – in my sophomoric myopia – revolved around a hottie senior boy named Artie. Artie was tall, handsome, smart and, on occasion, borrowed his father’s tweed sport coat that had suede elbow patches and made him look like quite a promising young captain of industry. In retrospect, he reminded me of John Davidson (which just goes to show what conservative, white bread taste I had in an era that fostered The Beatles, free love, draft-dodging, and Mary Quant cosmetics).

Let's Not Play Amazon Monopoly

Hamlett — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:15:44 -0700

For authors and publishers across the country, hackles have been raised regarding Amazon.com's disturbing ultimatum that POD entities and independent publishing companies must now use Amazon's own enterprise, BookSurge, for all of its printing orders or else incur higher costs to have books available for purchase online. This is clearly both a restraint of trade issue and conflict of interest that could severely impact the independent publishing industry. To that end, I'd like to share some suggestions offered by my husband and in-house counsel, Mark Webb.

This Just In From The Script Department

Hamlett — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:50:44 -0700

There’s a funny scene in Shakespeare in Love in which a boatman – upon recognizing the young Bard as his passenger – eagerly tries to foist a new script on him. As anyone who has lived in Los Angeles for more than 10 minutes can attest, it’s an accurate send-up of the fact that almost every valet, waiter and clerk you encounter will just happen to have an extra copy of his or her latest project if they overhear you have any connection to Tinseltown. (“Here’s the Cobb salad you ordered, Ms.

Loved Your Last Picture

Hamlett — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:22:30 -0800

Amidst the bright lights of Tinseltown, the line between fantasy and reality is often a blurry one. Unlike an earlier era when movie stars and TV personalities were accorded a certain measure of privacy whenever they stepped away from the cameras, we’ve become a society that’s obsessed with knowing every intimate detail about those whom we’ve placed on celebrity pedestals.

The World Canvas of Dan Koffman

Hamlett — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:09:59 -0800

Does Life imitate Art or does Art imitate Life?

Obsessions Can Be Deadly

Hamlett — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 08:20:39 -0800

Paul Adam's "The Rainaldi Quartet" eloquently melds his knowledge of Italian culture and violins into a contemporary mystery revolving around the heinous murder of an aging luthier. His lead characters - Gianni and Guastafeste - are tireless in their efforts to find out what their dear departed friend had discovered just prior to his demise. It's a quest that takes them across breathtaking cityscapes and is written with such skill that you can practically smell the food they're eating and the wine they're tasting!