Tag Archive for: maria geraci

The Dog Ate my Cake

/in /by

From the cat who literally swallowed the canary (and then threw it up
on your aunt’s antique Persian rug) to the dog who ran away, we at the
Stiletto Gang put our collective heads together and thought: what could
be better than walking down memory lane with thoughts of some of our
favorite–and not-so-favorite–pets? Join us for the next two weeks as
we reminisce about the animals we loved and those who loved us. 

by Maria Geraci

I admit it. All my dogs have been doggie school dropouts.

This trend started early on in my pet owning career. My first dog was an Irish Terrier named Chico. Not very Gaelic sounding, but hey, when you grow up in a Cuban American household, your pets have names like Pepe and Paco (yes, that’s the name of my parent’s current Schnauzer).

Chico was a sweet dog, but totally unmanageable. I think this is because my sister and I (who were 9 and 10 at the time) were in charge of his early training. We begged and begged and begged our mom for a dog who refused until she finally got tired of our begging.

“Okay, but you two are in charge of training him, feeding him, and cleaning up after him.“

“Yay!” we squealed.

In our defense, we tried to train the dog. We really did. My mom even enrolled Chico in a 6 week obedience course. But hey, it was summer and there was swim team and sleep overs and day trips to the beach, so Chico’s training took a shabby back seat to our summer fun.

End result? We didn’t reinforce the stuff Chico was supposed to be learning in the obedience course (stuff like: Sit, Chico, Sit! and Stop, Chico, stop!). At the graduation day ceremony when all the other dogs, were sitting and stopping, Chico was sniffing the orange cones and yep… you guessed it, even baptized one.

This was just the beginning of our family humiliation at Chico’s hands. Or rather, paws.

Later in life, Chico even became famous at my high school for his bad dog ways. He was a notorious leg humper, which, trust me, is only funny in the movies. He ran away every chance he got (not sure why, when he practically ruled the roost at our home). We would comb the neighborhood, calling his name loudly, and the neighbors would shake their heads. “That Chico! Has he run away again?”

 He would always come back, hours later, his fur matted and his eyes shining brightly.

“What does he do when he runs away?” My mother asked, “roll in the woods?”

But without doubt, his worst bad dog moment came my senior year in high school. When our basketball team won a big district game, I was in charge of making a cake for the team and presenting it to them at a pep rally. It took me all afternoon to make that cake. I iced it carefully, then sat it in the middle of the dining room table so that a certain someone (who had already become famous for tipping over pies) wouldn’t stretch his snout to take a lick. Ha! I guess the moral here was if you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it, because somehow Chico managed to jump onto that dining room table and devour half the cake before I even knew what was happening. By that time, it was too late to make another cake.

The next day at the pep rally, my humiliated seventeen-year-old self went up to the mike to present the basketball team their “cake.” Instead I had to admit, “the dog ate my cake.”

It was settled. Chico was now officially a legend.

Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction
with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club,
“immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, will be released
August, 2012 by Berkley, Penguin USA.
For more information, please visit her website at www.mariageraci.com

Book Club Triumphs and Failures

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

First off, I need to apologize for missing my post last Thursday. I started to write it then got pulled away from the computer and then hurt my back. Had to spend 2 days in bed taking muscle relaxants. Not. Fun. At. All.

So, back to book clubs. I’ve been amazed at how the book club phenomena has really taken off in the past decade. Book clubs are a terrific way for women (and men) to get together, socialize, and talk about a common interest.And yes, I belong to a book club. Let me tell you a little bit about us.

My book club started a few years ago when a couple of the nurses I work with (nursing is my “day” job) decided it would be fun to form our own group. I don’t know about other professions, but being a nurse for many years I would say that in my observation, nurses as a general rule are prolific readers. Finding members to join our little club was no problem.

The problem came with recommending which book to read.

I don’t remember exactly how it came to happen, but the first book our club read was The Shack. Oy vey. We nearly imploded at our first meeting. A few members loved it (cried when discussing it) some members were “it’s okay, I guess” (I was in this group) and some members threatened to leave forever if this was the kind of book we were going to select. Lesson learned: Stay away from books that resemble The Shack.

After our debut debacle, no one wanted the pressure of recommending another book.Since I’m a writer and the author of three (soon to be four) published books, people turned to me for suggestions. Talk about pressure…

So after a little “book club” research I recommended we read The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Conclusion: Much better than The Shack! But… what really happened in that strange scene when our time traveling hero “meets” himself as a teenager and is caught by his father in the “act.” Even after several drinks, no one could figure that scene out. But I wasn’t pelted with hot rocks during the meeting, so I guess I did okay.

From The Time Traveler’s Wife, we went on to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yeah. What was I thinking? Personally, I loved it. Everyone else? Not so much. It didn’t cause the near riot that The Shack did, but most of the other members couldn’t get through the book and it was an expensive book (because it had just come out).  So this taught me a lesson. Before I select another book club pick, do some research. Our best book selections are books that have been out for a while (thus are already in paperback form or readily available from the library) and have nothing do with religion or zombies.

Some of  our “best” selections have been Water For Elephants, The Weird Sisters (although this was a sort of expensive book because we read it when it first came out), The Help, and The Hunger Games (probably our biggest book club hit thus far). Currently, we’re reading Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I definitely think I’m safe. At least, I hope so.

What about you? Do you belong to a book club? Who picks the books you read? And what have been your biggest flops and triumphs?

Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction
with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club,
“immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, will be released
August, 2012 by Berkley, Penguin USA.
For more information, please visit her website at www.mariageraci.com

A Thousand Shades of Viral

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

I’m not going to get into the Fifty Shades of Grey debate. You either like the book. Or you don’t.

What I want to talk about is how this book got so darn popular (Okay, so it’s a different sort of Fifty Shades debate.) And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you must be living under a rock because almost everyone I know has either read or is currently reading this book. Even my dog is reading this book. (That’s a joke, but honestly, any minute now I expect Truffles Geraci to come trotting out to the living room with a copy clutched in her paws).

I first heard about this book on a well known writer’s blog. A writer I happen to adore and think very highly of. She was confused by how many of her friends (none of whom regularly read romance or erotica) were reading this book, talking about this book and actually recommending this book to others.

Naturally, being the curious writer that I am, I had to read the book. And yes, I did read all 3 books because the books’ author, EL James cleverly broke her story up into 3 smaller books so that in order to read the complete story, you’d have to buy all 3.

After reading the books, I have to confess to being confused. Did I love the books? No. Did I hate them? The answer to that is also no. There were parts I liked, parts I skimmed, and parts, well, that made me blush. But overall, it wasn’t my cup of tea.So is my taste so out of tune with the rest of America? How did these books become what seems like, an overnight cultural phenomena?

Is it because the original story (titled, Master of the Universe) was Twilight fan fiction? Is it because Good Morning America labeled it “mommy porn” sending the housewives of America into a twitter? Heck, the book has been mentioned on everything from NPR to Dancing with the Stars. It’s… well, like I said it’s a phenomena. One that has me scratching my head, because I’d love to know how this thing went uber viral.

Maybe Malcom Gladwell can shed some light on it.

New York City!

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

It’s been 9 years since my last (and only visit) to New York City.
Back in 2003, I went to the Big Apple for the Romance Writers of
America Conference. Although my main focus was writing workshops, I
did manage to squeeze in some sight-seeing. This time, however, it
will be all play and no work.

Stuff I did last time:

Rode the subway
Walked a lot
Stood on top of the Empire State Building
Visited The Cloisters museum
Buggy ride in Central Park
Double decker Bus tour (but I was so tired, I fell asleep!)
Shopped at Macys
Saw a Broadway show–Aida–it was fabulous!
Ate a lot
Walked a lot (did I already mention that?)
Almost got run over by a taxi (numerous times)

Stuff I plan to do this time:

Ride the subway
Walk a lot
Stand on top of the Empire State Building
Visit a museum
Buggy ride in Central Park
Double decker Bus tour (and stay awake!)
Shop a lot
See a Broadway show– already have tickets for Wicked!
See another Broadway show- either Memphis, or Jersey Boys, or even
possibly How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Eat a lot
Walk a lot (did I already mention that one?)
NOT get almost run over by a taxi

Did I forget something?

My Daily Fix

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

A few years ago I began doing something I thought I’d never do–the morning crossword puzzle.
Because, you know, only old people with no lives do the crossword puzzle (like my mother-in-law).

I began doing the morning crossword because I was going through a particularly wobbly time in my life, and doing the puzzle helped calm me and started my mornings off with a positive note. At first, I could barely finish half the puzzle. Then after a short while I could finish most of the puzzle. And then it was a rare day when I couldn’t get 100 percent of it finished. I figured if I could finish the puzzle, then I could do anything.

Then my husband got in on the act. He started “helping” me with the puzzle, and before I knew it, the two of us were fighting to get to the curb so we could be the first one to snatch up the morning paper. I’ll never forget the first time Mike Geraci woke me up with an evil grin on his face and said, “Hey, hon, I made the coffee. Oh, and I already did the puzzle.” He’s lucky he’s still alive.

It was now time to face facts. I was addicted. I was one of those “old people with no lives.” But hey, I am not old and I do so have a life! (My mother-in-law suddenly began to seem like a really interesting person too).

Like all addicts, however, I started to need more. The crossword just wasn’t enough. This is when I discovered Words With Friends. Yep. You know how to play it. It’s digital Scrabble! And the best part is that you can play numerous people at the same time and your game can last for days. I’m in word heaven!

So what about you? Any addictions you’ll own up to?

Thanksgiving!

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I hope your day is filled with good food, good company and many blessings. I’ll be spending today with my family in central Florida right here. Yep, just a hop, skip and jump from Disney World, shopping, and lots of golf (for the guys), so everyone will be happy.

Despite the fact that I won’t be home, I’ll still start out my Thanksgiving morning the same way I have for decades. By watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV!

Now, I love parades, but there is no finer parade than the Macy’s parade and Thanksgiving without it would be like… well, like a Thanksgiving day without turkey. So I thought it would be fun to dig up a few parade stats.

For example, did you know that:

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was in 1924 and was actually called the Macy’s Christmas Day parade (although it was on Thanksgiving Day).

The first parade featured real live animals from the Central Park Zoo (no big animal balloons!)

The parade was cancelled in 1942, 1943 and 1944 due to WWII.

In 1927, Macy’s introduced their world famous giant helium balloons. The first balloons were of Felix the cat and the toy soldier.

Macy’s is the world’s second largest consumer of helium. The US government is the first (for some strange reason, I find this fascinating).

Originally, the giant balloons were released in the air at the end of the parade. The balloons had a “return label” on them and anyone who found one and returned it to Macy’s, received a prize.
In 1932, an aviator almost crashed his plane after attempting to catch the Cat balloon. As a result of this near disaster, the parade discontinued the practice of releasing the balloons.

Due to a helium shortage in 1958, the balloons were brought down Broadway on cranes.

Santa Claus closes out the parade every year, except in 1933 when he led the parade, but my favorite part of the parade is without doubt, Snoopy!

The Art of Being Crafty

/in /by


Where did November go? As I write this, we have just crossed over the half-way point of the month, which means next week is Thanksgiving and after that, it’s all over. As in, the downhill slide toward Christmas begins.

Every year, sometime in mid-summer (you know, when all those clever shop keepers begin their “Christmas in July” promotions) I make a vow that this is the Christmas in which I will finally have my act together. My house will be spotlessly clean, closets organized, pantry shelves will be stocked (and labeled!), Yuletide decorations will be abundant (yet tasteful). Although this seems like enough to keep anyone busy, this Pioneer Woman fantasy of mine is not complete without my annual Christmas Holiday craft.

I don’t know when (or why or even how) this tradition started because my own mother is not particularly crafty. With the exception of the one lone holiday season she decided to make homemade candles as gifts and turned our family den into a candle factory. No joke. I remember she used all sorts of everyday household items as “molds” like milk cartons, and empty soup cans, stuff like that. I also remember a lot of glitter being involved and this was great fun for my sister and I who were probably about 9 or 10 at the time.

After the Big Candle Christmas (as I lovingly refer to that year) Mom gave up on being crafty around the holidays. “Too much stress,” she said. That obviously didn’t sink in because every year around this time I start to plan my big “craft” and while a part of me knows that starting the Big Craft in mid-November is probably too late, I still do it anyway.

In previous years, my Big Craft have included: making hand sewn Angels for the top of the Christmas tree (got this idea from a woman’s magazine), jingle bell necklaces, hand made Christmas Cards (none got sent out because I couldn’t finish them in time and February seemed a tad too late) and personalized gift baskets (that ended up costing me a fortune). So, while a part of me knows that the Big Craft is in some ways, doomed, I can’t help myself from starting one each year.

This year the Big Craft is personalized painted cloth canvas rugs also known as floorcloths. I drool over these every time I see them in a store and vow that I will start making them myself. I mean, if Martha can do it, then why can’t I?

How about you? Any big craft plans this holiday?

How to write a short story

/in /by

by Maria Geraci

Sometime early this year, fellow writer and Girlfriends Book Club blogger, Malena Lott, put a call out to authors who were interested in participating in a short story anthology. Part of the proceeds would go to a program to benefit victims of domestic violence. Besides being a women’s fiction writer, I’m also a labor and delivery nurse and have unfortunately seen the effects firsthand of domestic violence on women at the most vulnerable time of their lives, so I was instantly drawn to the project. The stories would be about 6-8,000 words in length and had to include a “sleigh ride.”

Now, being from Florida, I can tell you that I’ve only seen snow a handful of times in my life (not in Florida!) and have never been on a sleigh ride. But hey, I’m a writer and writers make things up, right? So I contacted Malena and told her I would love to be one of the participating authors and Malena graciously put me on board. I had several months to write the story and I already had what I thought was a pretty good idea, so I wasn’t worried.

Then I started to write the story. And about 5000 words into it I realized I’d barely introduced my characters and given them any sort of conflict. So scratch that.

Now I started to worry.

What had I gotten myself into?

I write full length contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Sure, I’d done plenty of “writing exercises” before. I’d written an entire 1000 words based on the image of an empty chair or a women going into a church ( stuff like that) but I’d never written a complete, satisfying story with a beginning, a middle, and an end in so few words. I was stumped.

And then I discovered the show, Love Bites, an hour long romantic comedy (from the creator of Sex and the City). Each hour long episode featured 3 short 20 minute stories that all connected together. Think Love, American Style (if you can remember that far back in TV history). The show was funny, smartly written and perfect teaching material for someone like me who learns visually. I watched the shows (taped them on my DVR actually) and picked out my “favorites”. Then I went to work. I watched the shows again, this time jotting down notes in my trusty legal pad. And I discovered something pretty basic. Short stories work almost exactly the same as longer stories. You just have to cut away all the stuff that isn’t important.

Backstory can be done in just a couple of sentences.

Dialogue has to do triple duty.

And you can still get 3 act structure in 6000 words.

Sadly, Love Bites got cancelled (doesn’t that seem to happen to all the best shows?) but I’ll always be forever grateful to the smiles it brought to my face and the writing wisdom it gave me.

How about you? Any tips for writing short stories? Now that I have one under my belt, I’m anxious to try my hand at more!


Get ready for the ultimate sleigh ride this November with Buzz Books. SLEIGH RIDE is a wintry mix of short stories with one common theme: each story includes a sleigh ride. The book will include seven short stories and a portion of the proceeds will benefit a national domestic abuse prevention fund via Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Women helping women is one of our highest endeavors, and we are extremely excited about the project.

For more information on my writing, please go to my website,
You can also follow me on Twitter or Facebook (or both!)