September 2, 2008
Hi from a newbie
Written by Kristan Higgins in Jaunty Post
Hello! I’m one of the new members of the Jaunty Quills and thrilled to be included in such a gang. I’m new still fairly new to writing, and I’m definitely new to blogging. My name, pen and otherwise, is Kristan Higgins, and I write romantic comedies set in small towns. Regular people with big love stories, as I like to think of them, and lots of laughs as well. This summer, my second book, Catch of the Day, won the Romance Writers of America RITA for best single title contemporary, which was definitely one of the happiest moments of my life, and my third book, Just One of the Guys, came out in August. I’m working on two more books right now, one due out this winter, and another next fall(ish).
I was thinking about what to write in my first post…want to make a good impression and all that. With only three books out, I’m pretty new in the writing world, so telling my own story or offering advice struck me as a bit, er, pompous. But of course, I wanted to be brilliant and charming, too. The other night, I had great plans to write just that…something brilliant and charming, but as soon as I sat down to write, I got a little sweaty with the pressure of being brilliant and charming. I turned on the TV instead, figuring if something brilliant and charming came to mind, I could always leap to my computer and jot it down.
My firefighter husband was working a triple shift. The kids were sound asleep, and I’d read everything in the house. I’d failed to return my Netflix rentals in a timely fashion, so I was at the mercy of our very mediocre cable plan. Luckily the gods were merciful, and one of my favorite movies was playing. Groundhog Day. Faced with the same day over and over again, a narcissistic weatherman has to learn how to become a better person. It doesn’t sound like much, but there’s something just fascinating about the character of Phil Connors trying to learn why he’s been condemned to relive his least favorite holiday.
It got me to thinking about the movies I can watch again and again — Titanic…well, the second half anyway, once the ship hits the iceberg. The image of Titanic sinking is so haunting…I can never sleep after seeing that movie, but I watch it again and again. While You Were Sleeping is another favorite… it’s just unfailingly delightful, and Sandra Bulloci is so believable. Then there’s The Natural (I love baseball). The Shawshank Redemption (or just about anything with Morgan Freeman in it; he’s so talented). Apollo 13 — my heart always pounds in the final moments of the flight, though by now I’m pretty sure how it will turn out.
For books, it’s Gone with the Wind for me (I’ve read it 14 times) and Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels. I read everything by Elizabeth Berg and Elizabeth Strout, and I read The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman at least once a year. Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin…oh, there are dozens.
So what about you? Why do you love those tried and true favorites so much? Which books have you read again and again, which movies could you see a hundred times?
Nice meeting everyone!
Kristan
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Laura Says:
Welcome Kristan.
I think my favorite movie of all time is When Harry Met Sally. I own the movie but every time it comes on TV, I have to watch it. I think it’s because it’s how I want a relationship to go - friends first and then build on that.
Books, there are so many books I love but I really don’t read them over and over, simply because there are so many I want to read the first time! But I love reading books that are historicals to us now but were contemporaries when they were written and published - like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and the one I’m reading for a literature class now - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. True classics.
Kristan Higgins Says:
Jane Eyre…sigh! I’m with you on Jane Austen, too. I love Emma most of all, I think (and the movie’s great, too!).
Emily McKay Says:
Hi Kristan, Welcome!
I’m a big Jane Austen fan too. She’s just so smart and witty. Everything a great writer should be: drama, humor and insight to the human soul.
As for other books … Well, of course the Harry Potter books, which are so clever and complex, they can be read over and over. The Postman is one of my favorite non-romance books. I’ve read that several times.
I’ve read most of Judith McNaught’s books more than once. All Suz Brockman’s Trouble Shooters (up through Max and Gina). My favorite SEP’s–Nobody’s Baby But Mine and This Heart of Mine. Actually, THOM is probably my all-time favorite romance. For a while, I read it every time I did revisions on one of my own books. It was a great reminder how important it is to do the unexpected.
Shana Galen Says:
Welcome to the Jaunty Quills, Kristan. I see you new book has a cute dog on the cover again
Love it!
I watch Clueless and Last of the Mohicans every time I see them on cable. And it seems I re-read Pride and Prejudice once a year. I just read it again on Saturday. I usually need to re-read a Julie Garwood book a ywear as well. It doesn’t matter which one as long as it’s an historical.
Kristan Higgins Says:
Clueless, absolutely! Still so funny (and based on my own Austen favorite, Emma). And yes, Emily, SEP is great for a reason, isn’t she?
One of the things I love best about Jane Austen’s books is the sense of how important good conversations are. In this age of texting and cell phones, 24/7 access to everyone we know, pretty much…the way we communicate is so different. I love in P&P how letters are saved for a quiet time, so they can be read and thought upon properly.
There are certain kisses in certain movies that (ahem!) affect me deeply…Last of the Mohicans has one of them. Also, Jude Law kissing Nicole Kidman on the porch in Cold Mountain. Sigh!
Thanks for the warm welcome! It’s a pleasure to be among the sisters.
Serenissima Says:
Hi and welcome Kristan,
There are so many books that I have read more than once, so I name the best three: Anne of Green Gables-books, Judith McNaughts Once and Always and Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. I have read those books VERY MANY TIMES…
Those movies/tv-series that I could see over hundred times are many too, but here I go for three again:
¤BBC´s Pride and Prejudice: I have watched it so many times, that I know some of the dialogue by heart…
¤The Age of Innosence; Oh, how they suffer from their love, le sigh…
¤Love, Actually; I have to watch this every Christmast, it is so lovely.
And IMHO the best kiss ever is the kiss in the end of the series NORTH AND SOUTH, between Margaret Hale and Mr Thorton. So sweet and so lovely.
Serenissima
Kristan Higgins Says:
And of course, there’s Rhett kissing Scarlett just before he leaves her to join the Confederacy…
RobynDeHart Says:
Hmmm…I’m not a big re-reader. In fact the only books I’ve re-read as an adult were the Harry Potter books. For some reason those I want to read again and again. As for other books, I don’t know I guess I want to preserve my original feelings about it and I’m afraid if I read it again it wouldn’t live up to my memory.
But I love to watch movies over and over. Two of my favorites that I could watch all the time are Twister and Six Days, Seven Nights. Not sure why, but I dig them. I also need to watch Noises Off at least once a year. As far as a new movie I’ve watched frequently, Stardust - LOVE that movie.
And welcome, Kristan, it’s great to have you!
cheryl c. Says:
Welcome, Kristan! I am a big fan of yours, and all 3 of your books are on my keeper shelf! There are a lot of books that I keep because they have touched my heart in some way. Quite often I will take a book off the shelf to just reread a favorite scene. Besides yours, other books on the keeper shelf are by Julia Quinn, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jennifer Crusie, Julie Garwood, Linda Lael Miller,Susan Mallery, Nora Roberts,Stef Ann Holm, and others.
Margo Maguire Says:
Hey Kristan - what a great first blog with us!
I don’t tend to re-read or re-watch anything. I get all antsy when I try it, except for a very few movies. SCROOGED with Bill Murray is one I can watch every couple of years. Same with the Pride and Prejudice films. Every couple of years, max.
Kristan Higgins Says:
Robyn, you’re right…nothing matches that first impression of a great book, that wonderful feeling of being so caught up in a story, not knowing what happens… But there’s a lot to be said for revisiting a wonderful story, too. I find I appreciate the smaller things the second time (or third, or fourteenth) time around. I compare it to be being a newlywed vs. being happily married for a long time. It’s not new, but there’s a different kind of charm.
I loved Stardust! It’s in my Netflix queue.
Cheryl, thank you so much for the wonderful compliment! Sounds like we have a lot of the same favorite authors. As for specific scenes, there’s one I’ve read again and again and it never fails to make me laugh out loud…the first love scene in Jennifer Crusie’s Faking It. Not every author is brave enough to write a scene where the hero and heroine fail to, er, deliver…but Jen Crusie does it in such a way as to make it just hilarious, don’t you think?
Diana Says:
Hi, Kristan. Welcome and thanks for informing readers who didn’t know about this blog of its presence via your website. I have to admit that I rarely read books more than once. Off the top of my head, the only one I can come up with is a children’s book called From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. I was first introduced to this book when my fourth grade teacher read it to the class, and I’ve loved it ever since. It’s a lovely book with a lot of heart and imagination–great for children and adults.
Ahh, movies. I love, love, love watching movies. Some tried and true favorites include: Roman Holiday (sigh, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck–need I say more?), While You Were Sleeping (love Sandra Bullock’s character and her romance with Bill Pullman), Never Been Kissed (so cute and awkward and what a cutie of a teacher), Rushmore and Bottle Rocket (I’m a big Wes Anderson fan), and the list goes on. Groundhog Day is a good one, too. Watching Bill Murray’s character repeatedly trying to kill himself is something that never gets old.
Kristan Higgins Says:
The Mixed Files! Yes! My kids love that one, too. And Harriet the Spy…there’s one I must’ve read ten times as a kid. S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders…
Any movie with Gregory Peck is worth seeing again and again in my book. I own To Kill A Mockingbird, in fact, and just wrote a book where my heroine has a thing for Atticus Finch.
Margo, I understand your feelings to a degree…there’s so much new stuff to read and watch out there. Funny that Bill Murray seems to star in so many of these tried and true favorites of ours…I’m sure he’ll be pleased!
Shirley Karr Says:
Welcome, Kristan!
Like Cheryl, I tend to reread certain scenes or sometimes just the back cover and a few random pages inside to get a refresher on favorite books, but I rarely have time to reread an entire book. Too much new stuff to devour!
I do that with some DVDs, too — Johnny Depp has done marevelous work but much of it is too emotionally exhausting (Edward Scissorhands, The Libertine) to view more than once every couple years, so I just enjoy the photos and description, and put it back. Kind of like sniffing perfume but not applying it.
It’s Cary Grant for me, rather than Peck. Anytime I see one of his movies on — especially romantic comedies like Father Goose or Operation Petticoat — I have to watch.
Quilt Lady Says:
Hi Kristan, nice to meet you and glad you are joining us.
Favorite books for me would be Gone With The Wind and Rebel Temptress by Constance O’Banyon which is a lot like Gone With The Wind if you can find a copy read it but it is out of print.
Favorite movies would be Dirty Dancing and The Holiday.
I love a good romance movie.
Kristan Higgins Says:
When I read a book that’s just so good it hurts to have it end, I do tend to just start it over again and read it a second time right then and there. Then I’m content to leave it for a few years…
For Johnny Depp, I love Benny & Joon. There’s a sweet movie! Plus, it has Aidan Quinn, too, so there you go.
Cindy Kirk Says:
Welcome Kristan!! Great post.
The movies I have watched over and over are Clueless, Legally Blonde 1 (not 2), Pretty Woman, and Never Been Kissed. They are all feel good movies with happy endings.
Two books that I can pick up and three hours later still be reading are Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Nobody’s Baby But Mine and Dream a Little Dream. I like all her books but those are my favs.
Fedora Says:
Hi, Kristan! Just wanted to say hello! I’ve got a couple of your titles in my TBR and have only heard good things about them! I’m not too much of a movie person, but my kids could easily watch the Star Wars movies (especially the original three) over and over again. And the youngest is still happily re-watching episodes of Go, Diego, Go! and SuperWhy
As for reading, I can reread most of SEP’s backlist, especially Ain’t She Sweet or It Had to Be You; and I’m also a sucker for Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons and most of Jennifer Crusie’s backlist… Yikes, that’s a lot of books already 
Maya Says:
congratulations on your win this summer, kristan!
you seem to be having a dogs-with-accessories-and-lower-legs theme going on. i guess the picnic basket and firehat are central to the stories concerned. what dog accessory might come next, i wonder? tiara? rollerskates? certainly gives me food for thought when i want to daydream about what my covers might look like one day…
my regular re-reads include Elizabeth Peters’ “Crocodile on the Sandbank” and Loretta Chase’s “Mr. Impossilbe”
Kristan Higgins Says:
Thanks, Cindy, Maya and Fedora! It’s nice to be in the Sisterhood.
As for my covers…yep, there’s definitely a theme going on. I love what the art department came up with, though I have to confess…I’m switching to cats in my fifth book.
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Dru Says:
I came to this site from Kristan’s blog and have now bookmarked it. The one book that I can read over and over again is “Naked in Death” by J.D. Robb. The one movie that I can watch 5,000 times is “Hello Dolly.”