How
did you decide to co-write The Back-Up
List?
We just started talking about the story and
decided we liked the idea of a heroine who could be a Cinderella yet be
reluctant about it! We had so much fun just making characters up. Then we
decided since we both have a love of reading and writing why not put our mad
skills together! LOL
Did
you know that it would be a series, or were you planning on just one book?
At first our book- The Back-Up List was a
joke. We wrote it for fun! We wrote for
us! It was never meant to go anywhere! Our friends got curious and wanted us to
send them chapters and they were actually encouraging us to really finish it!
Once we finished our first book, we started having ideas for the second book-
The List of Possibilities, which was shocking! By the time we finished that book
we walked away from writing for 2 years! During that time Amber finished school
and Miriam had another baby! We never thought anymore about our characters or
progressing with the stories anymore! The day we started our third book- The
Bump List it took us completely by surprise; we wrote our “Paris” chapter and
knew these characters were not done! Here we are now writing our fourth book-
The List of Demands.
We love the friendship between Maddy
and KInley, is the friendship in the book based off of your own?
We
get this question all the time! Yes, the characters friendship is based on our
friendship! We get asked all the time if we are sisters when we look NOTHING
alike. We have thought a lot about this and asked a lady once why she thought
that, she replied, “Because I would NEVER talk to my friend like that!” We
found it funny, but we realized that we don’t talk like that to any other
friend.We tell each other how it is and thought why not base Maddy and Kinley
on us!
How long did it take to write the
series?
We
started writing- The Back-Up List in Fall of 2009. Wrote- The List of
Possibilities in the Fall of 2010. Took a break for Amber to finish school and
in that time Miriam had another baby. Started writing- The Bump List Summer of
2012 and just started the maybe last in the series- The List of Demands! It’s
been a fun process of 4 years of our lives; it’s brought us even closer
together in our friendship that we didn’t think was even possible.
What’s a back-up list? Do you have
one?
Here’s our
descriptor of a back-up list- (also used in our book)
ICE
If the woman carrying this card has
been recently made single, through the accidental death of her husband,
untimely demise due to unforeseen natural causes (or deliberate murder) or has
become single due to the fact that her husband was a cheating bastard who left
her, then this is an emergency. A new husband must be procured for her
promptly. A list of suitable candidates is provided on the other side.
Yes we both have a back-up
list and it sits safe and sound in our wallets in case of emergency!
About the book
THE
BACK-UP LIST, is a bipolar, pop-culture love
story involving a rock star playboy and a widow. The Back-Up List has only ever
been a joke- that’s it. Madison Grey has a celebrity crush list of
possible replacement husbands ready with the off-chance her husband might
inexplicably vanish. Clearly, Madison was not prepared for- A. her
husband’s untimely death and B. Calvin Hunt, rock god and top man on her Back-Up
List to begin crushing on her. Talk about your cruel cosmic ironies.
It has only been six months since her entire family was killed in a tragic
accident and he’s looking to her for a hook-up! Really?
Calvin
Hunt, rock icon, is living the dream of any womanizing man-whore- that is until
he spots the first unavailable woman he’s ever met. What the hell? Is
shegay? He’s busily seducing her with concert tickets and exotic getaways,
all while he’s touring. There are plenty of obstacles he’ll have to
overcome to be with her and he’ll need all the help he can get
from his stoic bodyguard, his nosy Oprah-channeling brother and even Madison’s
bizarrely quirky friends who are all fighting to cross his name off of
Madison’s Back-Up List.
Available
on Barnes and Noble and Amazon
About the Authors
Miriam
and Amber have been friends for quite a few years now...because Amber walked up
to Miriam and told her she loved her slutty boots, on a Sunday morning at
church. They’ve been friends ever since. They decided this was too funny not to
write into the book somewhere. They started The Back-Up List in 2009; it has given them
many hours of amusement. Writing these books has given them nearly endless
laughter, which they love above all things. Some of their whacky real-life
stories have been written surreptitiously into the books, although they’ll
never tell you what they are. The Back-Up List is their personal joke, and yes
they do have cards in their wallets. They are both married (but not to each
other) and have 7 children between the two of them! Both live in Southern
California with their families, and they enjoy going to Disneyland, the beach,
and fun GNOs.
Twitter- @thebackuplist
Read an excerpt
Cal walked
over to her, maneuvering easily through the crowd. He walked and they followed,
he moved forward and they parted like the Red Sea. “Would you come with me for
a moment?” he asked her. She nodded as she tried to swallow that damned lump in
her throat. He walked to his dressing room and let her inside. “Come to my room
tonight.” He was so unbelievably sexy, her knees were shaking, and she was
biting her lip. Jack was there inside her mind; his reproachful glance made her
nearly double over in pain.
“I can’t,”
she answered softly, while looking down at her own shoes; Jack’s eyes were
still boring into her, though only inside of her mind.
“Why?
We’re both unmarried adults.” The words stabbed at her, leaving her already
broken heart, completely dysfunctional.
“I-you
don’t love me. Any one of those women out there would be more than happy to
take care of you.” She grinned up at him, “I would need more.” She’d
gestured to the door. “I can’t, we barely know each other.” Oh Jack, what would
you think? She couldn’t, not even to erase the pain, for a few pleasure filled
moments.
“I
wouldn’t mind knowing you a little better. I’m intrigued with you, fascinated
really,” he answered her. Oh, what could she do with that? She gulped as she
found herself becoming lost in his deep blue eyes. She could say yes, and no
one would ever know. What did it matter? Truthfully, he’d become real to her
now, she’d be left to pick up the pieces in the morning when he was gone and
she couldn’t. She didn’t have enough of a functioning heart left to deal with
that. She shook her head.
“It’s not
a good idea, Cal. I’m no good for you.” Her voice was growing hoarse as he
leaned closer and pulled her into his chest. “Just forget about me,” she
advised.
“I
confess, I have always wanted anything or anyone who wasn’t good for me. What
precisely is bad about you?” His mouth, delicious full lips, was a mere inch
away from hers.
“I am
damaged. You should find some young thing that has never had her heart broken
and…isn’t afraid to take another chance.” She knew this one evasive sentence
would make her sound merely wounded, vulnerable. She couldn’t imagine trying to
tell him how far off that description really was.
He brought
her hands to his lips and kissed them sending shivers up her spine, “I really
don’t want you to walk away without giving this a chance. I know there is
something here, something I’ve never felt before. I don’t want to lose whatever
it is.” He kissed her tenderly, and for a moment she considered letting it go
further, but she stopped him. “At least let me call you sometimes, or email
you, hell, we can be Facebook friends.”
She
laughed and leaned her head on his chest. His arms felt so good around her. She
wished she could believe that he would take care of her, and try to fill the
gaping hole in her chest, but he was not good for her, just as she wasn’t good
for him. There really wasn’t a point. But, what harm could he be when he was on
the road constantly, and he lived in another country the rest of the time.
“You’re on Facebook?”
“Of
course. Who isn’t? I’ll find you and we’ll keep in touch. I’ll give you my
phone number and you can call me sometimes.” He had a look in his eyes, pure,
intense. She couldn’t say no anymore, and honestly wasn’t sure she wanted to.
She nodded and laughed.
“Does
anyone ever tell you no?”
“No,” He
chuckled. “But it’s interesting. I can see why normal people don’t like it.”
She
laughed again; it felt nice. “Hand me your phone?”
He tilted
his head to the side and gave her a scrutinizing glance before pulling his
phone out of his pocket, “It may be, um…”
“Wet?” She
giggled. “Sweaty much?” He grinned sheepishly.
“Those
lights are really hot up there. The rest of me is dry now, but my pockets…”
She
programmed her cell number into his phone, “I’d love it if you called me, and
get to know me, you said that’s what you wanted, right? Unless you meant only
in the biblical sense…”
He
chuckled, “Well, I don’t think I’d mind knowing you that way either, but yes,
I’d like to know you. I want to know what your favorite color is, and what you
do for a living, and if you like my music, and whether or not you like string
beans, and how tall are you, and where are you from?” He took a breath.
She held
up her hand and laughed heartily. “My favorite color always changes, but right
now it’s blue and don’t ask why. I am a full time student, I love your music,
every song in fact, I hate string beans, I’m five foot two and I’m from
Oklahoma, no wise cracks please.”
He
grinned, that sexy yet delicious grin he’d modeled on the cover of G-String
Magazine. Her knees would soon turn to Jell-O if he didn’t stop it. “You
are not like any other woman I have ever met. I could sit and talk with you all
night, although I’d be far too tempted to do more than talk.”
“Well, get
to know me first, and then you can decide if I’m worth the trouble.” She gave
him a cunning smile.
5 comments:
Thank you MG it's beautiful!!!!
I want to hear more about how two friends wrote a book together! Did you alternate every other chapter, or brainstorm for ideas and then write together, or....? I am so tickled about your ICE cards!
it looks like a fun read
June- We wrote the probably about 95% of the book together in the same room! We started writing it separately and emailing it back and forth, but decided it didn't work! We've written 3 in the series so far and are starting our 4th. We spend a lot of time together! I am blessed to have such an amazing woman as my best friend!
~Amber~
Wow, that's a great way to spend time with your best friend. I am guessing that the two of you feed off each other's creativity.. Way cool!
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