Kyra's Web Log

I for one am glad to be ushering in a new year and I hope this one brings everyone of you success and happiness!

Also, for all of you who came to see me at the West Hollywood Book Fair, THANK YOU! It was so cool to be able to finally meet so many of you in person. It was a great event and for those who weren't able to make it I do hope you'll be able to come to the next event!

What A Difference A Few Hours Makes

When I turned on the news this morning (Thursday 9/25) everybody was smiling. A Republican senator was talking about the wonderful new bipartisanship that was sweeping Washington. A reporter actually noted that our congressman were sharing a Kum BA Yah moment.

Then I turned on the news again at 5:00 and everybody hated each other. Seriously, if the cameras weren’t on several of them would have ended up with black eyes and bloody knuckles. It’s really amazing. It’s like we’ve all been given this terrifying peek into the total dysfunction that exists within our government. I mean if you worked for a company that operated like this you’d either quit or take a mental health leave. AND THIS IS OUR COUNTRY!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE REPRESENTING US AND THEY’RE BASICALLY SITTING AROUND A TABLE FLIPPING EACH OTHER OFF!

Okay, I’ve gotten that off my chest. Moving on---I went to the LA County fair yesterday. Did you know that they’re deep frying cream cheese now? I didn’t try it but I did see it advertised. I wonder what that would taste like on a deep fried bagel. Then you could top it off with a deep fried Oreo on a stick. To bad the freestanding booths that sell that stuff aren’t publically traded companies. Judging from the huge lines in front of these places it’s safe to assume that they could actually save the economy.

Don’t forget to come see me in West Hollywood on Sunday! Here's the details of the event:


Hosted By: West Hollywood Book Fair
When: Sunday Sep 28, 2008
at 3:45 PM
Where West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vincente Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
United States
Description:
West Hollywood Book Fair



Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS,
OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING

It's Time We Met!

The West Hollywood Book Festival has invited me to speak on their panel:

Chicks and Chumps: How Female Crime Writers Handle Their Men

I'm not sure how they got my name but I'm honored that they thought of me at all. I'll be speaking with the fabulous Linda Palmer, Melinda Wells, Hannah Dennison and Harley Jane Kozak. If the last name sounds familiar but you know you haven't read any of her books it's probably because you've seen her in one of her movies (Arachnophobia, Parenthood, When Harry Met Sally and so on). Personally I've seen her movies AND read her books and I'm a big fan. Sharing the stage with her will be very cool.

Anyway, this will be my first LA event and if you live in the area I really would love the chance to meet you.

The event is Sunday, September 28th at 3:45 (although the fair will start at 10 am). It will be at:

West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vicente Blvd.

And the best part is that there's free parking!!!! That NEVER happens in San Francisco!

If you want more information please go to http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org/

I hope you can make it and bring a friend!


Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS,
OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING

I Guess It's A Good Thing?

When I was a kid my father shared these words of wisdom with me:

“Kyra,” he said, “there was a time when if you saw one Black person in the choir or lined up with the other backup singers you knew that was the most talented person in the group. That person HAD to have been amazingly talented if anyone was going to let him be up on that stage at all.”
Then he laughed and added, “Now I listen to the radio and watch the music videos and I know things have changed. We’ve earned the right to suck as much as everybody else.”

He had a point. And now with the rise of Sarah Palin I have to wonder if women have earned that same dubious right when it comes to politics.

Anyone who has checked out my Myspace page knows I’m an Obama-girl but I’m not a hard core liberal. I’ve voted Republican before and I do understand why people support McCain. But Palin is another story. It seems that people have decided that she looks and talks the way a family-values-fiscal-conservative should look and talk. She fits the image…superficially.

We’re told that she hates earmarks but a few years ago when she was mayor she hired a lobbyist to help her get earmarks….lots and lots of earmarks. Alaskans get more earmarks dollars per capita than any other state. Hell, she asked for so many earmarks that McCain railed against the absurdity of one of her requests on the Senate floor.

We’re told she’s a fiscal conservative and yet taxes per capita in Alaska are 2 ½ times higher than the national average. Alaskan spending per capita is also more than double the national average.

The contradictions go on and on. Does this make her any worse then the majority of politicians? Not at all. And while I’ve heard all the evidence regarding various corruption allegations her supposed indiscretions are fairly mundane compared to those of the political offenders that usually make the news. She's also a good speaker, likable and great in front of a camera. So, unlike many liberals I don’t think she’s the Antichrist (please don’t prove me wrong Sarah) and unlike many conservatives I don’t think she should be sainted. She’s just another politician.

But, not so long ago, in order for a woman to succeed in politics she couldn’t be “just another” anything. She had to be smarter than everybody else. She had to be tougher, and more savvy. Not only would she have to know what the Bush Doctrine was but she’d have to be able to spell it backwards.

Geraldine Ferraro earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors even though she had to work as a second grade teacher during the entire time she was in law school. She made a name for herself when she was the head of the Special Victims Unit for the New York district attorney’s office. People expected that unit to turn over cases for prosecution but Ferraro often chose to conduct the trials herself and people were cool with that because she usually won. As a senator she was quickly named Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus and earned a seat on some of the most powerful committees.

Condoleeza Rice had her Bachelor degree by 19 and her PhD by 26. She was on the United States National Security Council during Regan’s administration. Quite a feat considering she had to commute between Washington and Palo Alto because while she was helping Regan with the Soviets she was also teaching at Stanford University.

Until recently every woman who was in a high political office had a story similar to this. Women politicians couldn’t just SAY they were better they had to actually BE better.

And now we have Sarah Palin.

We’ve come a long way baby.


Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS,
OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING

Praise The Lord, It's Done!

I have finished the fourth Sophie book, Lust Loathing And A Little Lip Gloss (In stores June 09'). My wonderful editors have it in their hands now. Of course they'll have notes that I'll need to address but that's a ways down the road yet and it's not the same as writing a whole 400+ page book from scratch. I did put my ALL into this one and hopefully it shows.

I'll admit that when I started writing this I wasn't all that enthusiastic about the project. I know Sophie has her following but I was afraid that doing a series was begining to limit my ability to stretch my wings and explore different styles.

But by the end of this book I had fallen in love with Sophie all over again. She's so much more complicated that I originally realized and I find the people she meets in this latest adventure to be as fascinating as they are insane. I know it sounds like I'm talking about someone else's work. Or maybe it sounds like I'm blowing my own horn. I suppose the latter is true to a degree but oddly enough the former feels true. This time around I got so involved in the story and the characters that it honestly felt like they existed apart from me, like they had a life of their own. That was true with my first book too but not to this extent. Sophie, Venus, Maria and Kane (you'll meet the last three when the book comes out) continue to hang out in my head, accompanying me on my errands and on my walks through the park. And Marcus, well of course I love Marcus. He's never far from my thoughts either.

Of course I have no idea what readers will think of it. The one other person I gave the manuscript to likes it a lot but again, that's one person. I know there are those who will find fault. The critics will probably say that the sex scenes are a bit gratuitous. That's probably true in that I didn't really need to put them in but...well, tell me you wouldn't be disappointed if Sophie didn't get Anatoly out of his Calvins at least once per book. When I introduced everybody to his Mr. Happy I knew there was no going back.

Anyway, now that I've finished book number four in the series I have to get started on Sophie book number five. I'm not entirely clear what that's going to be about but I'm sure I'll come up with something...and I'm equally sure that I'll change my mind about whatever I decided after the first fifty pages or so and be forced to start from scratch. People are always asking what my "process" is. If I could sum it up in one word it would be "chaos." Oddly enough, it works for me.

Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS,
OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING