Skydoll: Destination Unknown (Book 2)

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is a chance for authors around the world to tell you what they’re working on. The author answers 10 questions about their next book, and tags the person who first tagged them, plus at least 5 other authors. Margo Candela, author of The Brenda Diaries,  tagged me.  

What is the working title of your book?  Skydoll: Destination Unknown.

Where did the idea come from for the book?  LONG AGO I was working on a book called Stewardeath, a dark comedy about a serial killing flight attendant.  Almost every agent who read the manuscript said they liked the voice, but wished I could make it more “fun.”  An agent who’s famous for being snarky scribbled a personal note at the bottom of a generic rejection form letter that said she hoped to never have me on one of her flights. HA!  So I did what most wanna-be-published writers do and stuck to my guns and….well…you guessed it.  I never sold the book.  Eventually I got the hint and changed the name to Skydoll.  I was busy working on that when an editor at Harper Collins found my blog and asked me to write a memoir for them.  That book became Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet. Now I’m back to working on Skydoll – AGAIN.

What genre does your book fall under?  Novel.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  Emma Stone!  Love her.  But Lizzy Caplan is pretty awesome, too.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  I’m striving for (HBO) Girls meets Cruising Attitude.  Can I use my own book?  If not how about Sex in the City meets Coffee Tea or Me.  Or maybe 2 Broke Girls meets…A View From the Top?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  An agency, I hope.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? I’m on page 5 of Chapter 2, so…  Over ten years if you count Stewardeath!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  I’m lucky because there aren’t many books about flight attendants, and very few of those are actually written by flight attendants – who are still working – LIKE ME!   On that note the most famous stewardess book of all is Coffee, Tea, or Me.  It was ghost written by Donald Bain, but an airline hired two stewardesses to become Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones as a marketing stunt to promote the book.  For years Coffee, Tea, or Me was sold as a nonfiction book, but today you’ll find it in the fiction section of the bookstore.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?   I can’t say that anyone or anything inspired me to write this book.  But the author who inspires me the most as a writer is Marguerite Duras.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?  You mean sex, love and flying isn’t enough?  Seriously what more could you ask for in a book?

TAG – You’re it!

(Check back soon to see who got tagged)

Little airplane movie…

Created using the artwork from my book, Cruising Attitude (German Edition)

Air France flight attendant shows off her Cruising Attitude!

She makes me want to wear (a redder) red lipstick.  (Flight instructors nod approvingly.)

Book #2: Skydoll: Destination Unknown

An excerpt of chapter one…

1.

Diet Coke no ice, Club soda with lime, coffee with cream, the never ending beverage service, that’s what I’m doing when I hear the muffled sound of a cell phone ringing. I shove a plastic scoop into a drawer of empty ice and trudge to the front of the aircraft wearing combat boots.  In the first class galley is where I make the announcement, that it’s time to put away and stow all electronic devices – anything with an on and off switch – we’ll be landing soon. As I’m walking down the aisle checking each row for compliance, I notice my bra, pink satin, is on the outer side of my uniform dress.  I sprint to the back of the plane when I hear it again, the Ice Castles theme song.  Stopping dead in my tracks, I  spin around.  That’s when it hits me.  That’s my special ring!

“Flight Attendant Connors,” mumbles a manly voice in my ear.  My body quivers when I feel his mouth on the back of my neck, the palm of his hand running up the length of my leg, pushing my skirt up along with it.  I inhale.  I don’t exhale.  Oh my.

Gasping for breath, I bolt straight up in bed.  I’m awake.  Well sort of.   Then again, not really.  My head hits the pillow and my eyes close.   Water, I need water.  There’s no way I’m getting out of bed to get it.  My head is throbbing.  The thought of moving, let alone standing, practically kills me.  Just when did it get so hot in here?  I kick the covers off, toss and turn, but then I get cold, real cold, so I reach for the covers, pull them halfway up my leg and…and…what was that?  No longer am I dreaming I’m on an airplane.  Nor am I in a dumpy airport hotel.  My eyes are wide open now.  I’m in an apartment.  A very nice apartment. Fuck!

I think what I really meant to say is FUCK FUCK FUCK!  Because my bed, you see, is white and fluffy. This bed is big and blue and, well, very nice.  The room, it’s nothing like mine; small, light and cheery, cluttered with clothes and paperback books.  This room is huge and dark and meticulously clean. Need I mention there’s a man, a naked man that I do not know lying in this strange bed beside me.  Based on his broad muscular shoulders and dark black hair, it looks like he might be hot. Not that it matters. Really.

Pulling what has to be 100,000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets up to my chin, I remind myself that life is about the choices we make. And more importantly it’s about taking responsibility for those choices. Even the bad ones. Like this one. Because what we do, what we say, what we even think, impacts us in ways we can not imagine in the future. This is what I tell my friends whenever they come to me for advice on love, life, men, whatever. It’s the same thing I’ve chosen to live my own life by, which is why I can say with the utmost certainty that I’ve made all the right choices in my short twenty-eight years.

Until now.

KEEP READING

Photo of the day: It was the only place on the plane Sally felt comfortable reading “50 shades of Grey”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Henry Lin

Caption courtesy of @IanHMoore

Life on the ground

 

Advice for writers & my chick lit inspiration

This interview originally appeared on ChickLitCentralTheBlog.com 

What was the most challenging part of writing “Cruising Attitude?” 
Finding time to write. I’ve been talking about writing a book for years. After awhile even close friends and family didn’t take me seriously when I’d talk about it. I’m a flight attendant, wife and mother. It’s not easy balancing all that without also trying to find time to work on a book. When I was writing I’d feel guilty about not spending time with my family. When I was spending time with my family I’d feel guilty about not writing. I should also mention it took a few years to realize the first book I was working on was the wrong book, even though every agent and publishing house told me this multiple times. I didn’t believe them. Turns out they were right! Blogging helped me find my way. When you blog you get immediate feedback from readers. You learn what they like and what they want to know more about. It’s why I now tell struggling writers to know who their market is and to give them what they want.

Who are two authors who inspired you to write?
Writing really starts with reading. The first author who truly captured my attention was Judy Blume. In grade school I checked out every single one of her books after reading “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.” I couldn’t get enough of her. That’s how my love of books with a strong female voice began. The book that inspired me to start writing was “Catcher In the Rye,” although as I read it I don’t think I was completely conscious that I wanted to write. But the conversational tone is what got me thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could do that – on a much lower level of course! Sarah Dunn’s “The Big Love”is the book I kept on my writing desk to use as motivation when I first began writing, the perfect combination of “Catcher in the Rye” meets the best of chicklit.

What do you think the key is to a successful chick lit novel? Lots of sexiness? A studly hero? Plenty of angst? 
A strong voice people can relate to. Although we’re more connected because of cell phones, Facebook, twitter and the like, we’re also more disconnected than ever before. This is why I think reality TV is so popular today. Writing something that’s real and true, something that people can relate to on an emotional level, is more important than ever before.

KEEP READING (and enter to win a free copy of my book)

Cruising Attitude: New York Times book review

Yesterday was an amazing day for me.  I still can’t believe Joe Sharkey from the New York Times reviewed my book, Cruising Attitude.   Let me say that again because it’s not everyday someone like me can throw around words like “my book” in the same sentence as  ”THE NEW YORK TIMES!” And yet there it is on page B8, and it practically took up half the page.  It was a fantastic review.  Much better than The Wall Street Journal.

I’m a new author, so I’m learning the ins and outs of the book business as I go along.  What’s funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it) is in the publishing world this review is a pretty big deal.  Not just because it’s the New York Times, although that alone is HUGE, but because the review came out two months after the book was released.  Apparently in book world two months is equivalent to two years – dog years that is.  Of course I ran out and bought not one, not two, but five copies of the paper just in case something happened to the other four.

Here’s an excerpt of the review…

If you’ve ever wondered what may be going through a flight attendant’s mind as she surveys passengers all strapped into their restraints before a flight departs, Heather Poole has the answer:

“O.K., where’s crazy? That’s what I’m wondering every time I board a flight in my flammable navy blue polyester.”

That happens to be the opening of Ms. Poole’s new book, “Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet” (William Morrow). Ms. Poole has been a flight attendant for 15 years for a major airline that she won’t name because, for a reason unfathomable to me, she loves her job and would hate to lose it. (Under airline rules, crews are allowed to talk to the media, but not to identify their company.)

Now, as a long-serving ombudsman for frequent fliers, I will quickly note that passengers sometimes have their issues with some flight attendants. The first question some of us ask once we’ve buckled ourselves in is this: “O.K., where’s the passive-aggressive martinet of a flight attendant who hates the passengers?”

Both questions are harsh, but I’ll admit that Ms. Poole’s has the weight of the evidence. Take that passenger who barged into the galley where she was squatting by a beverage cart to eat a sandwich she had brought from home. The passenger “took a bite of my half-eaten sandwich” and ran back to his seat, Ms. Poole writes. She adds, “I’ve seen a woman try to store her baby inside an overhead bin.”

After reading that, I called Ms. Poole at her home in Los Angeles to ask: “Really? The overhead bin?”

Ms. Poole, 41, said it was. “Well, maybe she was just putting it there while she sorted her things out, but that wasn’t my impression,” she said.

Ms. Poole is funny, amiable and self-deprecating. She seems well-grounded, so to speak. But her tone when I asked skeptically about the baby in the bin definitely conveyed the idea, “You have met the general public, haven’t you?”

KEEP READING

Five things a flight attendant DOESN’T want to hear!

This post originally appeared on the Barnes and Noble website 

Five Things Flight Attendants Don’t Want to Hear:

1. ON MY LAST FLIGHT…  The moment I smile and say I’m a flight attendant, I find myself holding my breath.  Without fail, there’s a two second pause, followed by those four little words: “On my last flight…” 90% of the time the story that follows is about a flight from hell. Let’s just stop and think about this for a minute. Upon meeting a doctor, would you tell him about the worst hospital stay you’ve ever had? Or would you tell a car salesman about the time you got sold a lemon? It’s never a good idea to start a conversation disparaging your new friend’s chosen profession.

2. ARE THERE ANY FIRST CLASS SEATS AVAILABLE? It’s okay to ask, but it’s probably not going to get you very far. What’s guaranteed to  get you nowhere, though, is demanding an upgrade because your reading light doesn’t work (this actually happened, on an afternoon flight, no less). One passenger demanded to be moved up front because his wife just had knee surgery and he had the X-rays to prove it! Just so we’re clear: Flight attendants do not upgrade passengers. Gate agents are the only ones with that power. But keep in mind there’s a standby list for those oh-so-precious premium seats, and each and every passenger on that list knows exactly how close to the top his or her  name is. Don’t believe me? Ask the top tier frequent fliers who didn’t score an upgrade and who are now seated in the most sought after coach seats; first row of coach or the exit row. Their names are all next on the list, and they know it.

3. CAN YOU HELP ME GET MY BAG IN THE OVERHEAD BIN? Unless you’re an unaccompanied minor, elderly or handicapped and your bag is not too heavy, I will not put your bag in the bin. One of the most common misconceptions about flight attendants is that it’s our job to lift heavy passenger bags into the bin. We have no problem finding a space for your bag. We may even assist in lifting the bag.  But for the most part, you pack it, you lift it.

KEEP READING

Why I wrote Cruising Attitude (how blogging lead to a book)

This review originally appeared in The Beach Reporter (by Annie Lubinsky)

This month, “Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet” appeared in bookstores, and it also made a couple of appearances on the New York Times best sellers list.

Probably because everyone can relate to travel, airplanes and flight attendants, whether they love them or hate them.

“People love to share the bad experiences,” Poole said. “The good stories are great and I have a million of them, but people love to hear the bad stories.”

In her 15 years as a flight attendant, Poole has dealt with passengers who got naked, drunk or disoriented from sleeping pills. She’s worked with crew members who were kind, cruel or quirky. Throughout “Cruising Attitude,” Poole keeps her sense of humor in the forefront as she describes the intense training flight attendants go through, reassures readers about turbulence and reveals truths about how flight crews spend their off-duty hours – it’s not the party people think it is.

“From my blog, I was just shocked at how many people were commenting with the same questions and misconceptions and funny ideas they had about flight attendants,” Poole said, “and how many blog posts can I write addressing the same question? So I thought I’d just write a book and correct all the things people have wrong and the funny ideas people have about us, and show it how it is.”

As she was writing her book and Tweeting about it, followers asked her if she was going to bash passengers.

“If I bash passengers, who’s going to read my book?” she said. “I wanted to make it as light and fun as I could, because I want passengers to like it. And the other thing was being true to flight attendants. I don’t want to come off syrupy sweet, like I’m the perfect flight attendant. I also break, mess up, spill drinks, get tired and frustrated after six days of work, so I wanted to be true to them and give people a better understanding of what our lives are like.”

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