Blog Tour: State of Jane by Meredith Schorr

Follow the tour HERE

Author Bio:
A born and bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related emails way more than she was probably supposed to, and was famous among her friends for writing witty birthday cards. After dabbling in children’s stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing “real chick lit for real chicks." When Meredith is not hard at work on her current work in progress, she spends her days as a trademark paralegal at a law firm in New York City. Meredith is a loyal New York Yankees fan and an avid runner. She also loves to read and is always on the lookout for her new favorite author. A State of Jane is her second novel.

Connect with Meredith!
facebook

goodreads

  

Buy the Book!

Amazon :

barnes and noble

itunes 

  

  

Jane Frank is ready to fall in love.

It's been a year since her long term relationship ended and far too long since the last time she was kissed. With the LSAT coming up she needs to find a long term boyfriend (or husband) before acing law school and becoming a partner at her father's law firm.

There's just one problem: All the guys in New York are flakes. They seemingly drop off the face of the earth with no warning and no explanation.

Should she join her best friend Marissa in singlehood, making cupcakes and watching True Blood? Or should she follow her co-worker Andrew's advice and turn the game back on those who've scorned her? As Jane attempts to juggle her own responsibilities and put up with the problems of everyone around her, she starts to realize that the dating life isn't as easy as she originally thought.

As I embraced him, I looked at Trish to gauge her reaction to seeing her new live-in boyfriend with his arms around his ex-girlfriend of nine years.  She was smiling and although I looked really hard, I saw no jealousy or insecurity behind her beady eyes. 

                When Bob and I separated, Trish jumped up and down.  Clapping her hands excitedly, she came barging at me, squeezing me with full force. Although her mouth was eye-level to my neck, I was able to make out her muddled version of, "I'm so happy to finally meet you!"

                Taken aback, and somewhat frightened, if truth be told, I pulled away and straightened the top of my scoop neck sweater.  Offering my hand, I forced a smile and said, "Hi. I'm Jane."

                Jumping up and down again, Trish squealed, "I know!  Bob's told me so much about you. And I've seen all of Arlene's photo albums.  Love the ones from the high school prom." Winking at Bob, she said, "He looked so cute in his tux."

                I glanced at Bob, hoping he'd roll his eyes and we'd share a silent laugh, but he had his hand on Trish's shoulder and was beaming as brightly as she.

                While I counted the number of tiny freckles on her nose, Trish continued, "Looking at the pictures, part of me wished I knew Bob back then.  But you were such a great girlfriend to him.  Thanks to you, I got him un-jaded. Unlike some of these other NYC guys."

                When I heard a cough in the background, I remembered Todd was next to me. "Oh, I'm so sorry," I said.  Gesturing towards Todd, I said, "This is Todd.  My, uh, my -"

                Interrupting my eloquent introduction, Todd nodded at Bob.  "Todd.  Jane's lucky date.  Nice to meet you.  Jane baked this potato soufflé for you guys." 

                Taking the platter from him, Trish said, “Thanks so much!  Bob said you were a really good cook.  Me, not so much!” Her eyes dilating in interest, she looked from me to Todd and asked, "How'd you guys meet?"

                I started to explain.  "Todd's a lawyer and my friend Marissa's sister thought we'd ..."

                "At a party," Todd cut in. 

                "Cute!  When was the party?" Trish asked.

                Wanting to keep the duration of my relationship with Todd vague, I started to answer, "I don't really remember…"

                "Last Saturday," Todd said.  "Jane liked my Red Sox hat."

                "That's funny since Jane has zero interest in sports," Bob said, laughing.

                "Yeah, Bob told me about the time his boss got tickets to a Ranger's game and you fell asleep in the second half." After she said this, Trish covered her mouth with her hand.  I wasn't sure if she was regretful for embarrassing me or just trying to contain her laughter.  The former would mean she was nice so I hoped for the latter.  But I guessed the former.

                I shrugged. "Yeah, well.  It was a week-night game. Long day of work."

                Patting my back like a child would a pony, Todd said, "Aw, she's a good sport.  Watched basketball with me this week and even accompanied me to my firm's bowling tournament.  And we've only been dating a week." 

                Feeling busted, I reluctantly met Bob's glance.  His eyebrows raised, he nodded, "Yup.  A great sport indeed."

                "I'm gonna get another beer.  Anyone want anything?” Todd asked.

                In unison, all three of us replied, "No, thanks."

                After Todd was out of ear shot, Trish said happily, "He seems nice!  There are too many people here tonight for us to really talk, but you guys should come over for dinner sometime.  Bob speaks so highly of you. I would truly like us to be friends."

                I examined Trish's face again for some sign that she secretly hated my attendance at her party.  Some indication that late at night when Bob was asleep, she stuck needles in a Jane-inspired voodoo doll wishing that my existence would be removed from Bob's memory and that all pictures of me would magically disappear from Mrs. Krauss's photo albums.  But what stood before me was a truly nice person who was neither fat nor ugly and seemingly not fatally flawed in any way.  Trish was sincere.  She was not threatened by me.  She was not jealous.  She was not insecure.  She was in love, she was happy, and she wanted me to be happy too.  And she actually wanted to be friends. 

                My whole charade was failing miserably. It was obvious Todd and I were not on our way to cohabitated bliss like Bob and Trish, and worse, pretending to be right behind her in the line to romantic happiness was pointless and would only serve to make me look even more pathetic than I already did.  I had to change directions and fast.

                I leaned in toward Bob and Trish and motioned with my finger for them to close the space between us.  When they moved in, I confided, "If you must know, I don't think Todd is the one."

                Bob laughed. "Oh really?"           

                Trish frowned.  "That's too bad."

                "Nah!  As you know, I had the same boyfriend for nine years.  My first and only boyfriend, if you know what I mean." I gave Trish a knowing look but she stared back at me blankly.  "Bob was a good lover and all, but I've got serious oats to sow before I settle down." I did a 360 of the room as if making sure no one could overhear my next words.  "All the guys I'm dating now?  Using them," I whispered.  "For sex." 

State of Jane is a funny story that has you rooting for the main character, Jane.  Jane is flawed, real and sometimes frustrating.   You will take a literary trip through singlehood with amazing and vivid characters, through real life situations all the while feeling like your are there along side them living every moment.  A must read book with a 4.5 star rating! 

Q.  What inspires your writing?

Life.  Almost everything in both of my books is inspired by my world - my relationships, my friendships, my work environment. 

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

Writing, writing and more writing. 

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

Having little or no control over how many people will read your book.  You can market and promote up the wazoo, but you can't force people to buy the book.

Q.  If you could not be an author, what would you do/be?

I would like to be a book editor or a professional book reviewer.  It would have to be something associated with reading/writing.

Q. What would the story of your life be entitled?

Meredith in Bloom

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

That is a really, REALLY tough question because I have so many favorite books.  One that comes to mind is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I loved that story.  The movie didn't do it justice which makes me wish it was never made.

Q.  Which part of your book(s) was the easiest to write?

Writing dialogue comes pretty easy to me as well as my character's inner thoughts. 

Q.  Which part of your book(s) was the hardest to write?

Description - mostly describing physical gestures and finding new and interesting ways to say things like, "he smiled." Sex scenes are tough too.

Q. Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind your book cover(s)?

I must give the credit to my fabulous cover design, Loretta Matson.  After reading the book, she threw out several concepts and one of them played on a lack of control which was a big theme in the book.  The falling bookshelves represent the lack of control that my main character faces when her life plan veers way off track.  

Q.  Which character from any book are you most like?

Stephanie Cohen in Just Friends with Benefits

Q.  What is your favorite season?

I'm happy to live in an area that has all four seasons because I think they all have their good points, but I would say my favorite is early Fall.  There is little precipitation, the colors are pretty and you can get away with just a light jacket. 

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book(s).

My friends recently threw me a release party for A State of Jane and one of them had bookmarks made for me.  After several drinks, my friends started handing out the bookmarks to every single person at the bar and telling people I was a famous author.  Some of the people asked to have a picture taken with me which I thought was hilarious since I am far from famous.  I'm hoping at least a few of them downloaded the book though :)

Q.  Are you working on something new?

Yes - I am finalizing my 3rd novel (still untitled) - it is a chick lit/romcom about a very popular book reviewer/blogger who is asked to review the debut novel of her high school nemesis/ "mean girl."  The romantic portion of the book involves an attorney at the office where my main character works as a legal secretary who,  much to my main character's dismay, calls her out on her secret wish to be a writer. 

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by? 

Thank you for taking the time to read my answers and learn a little more about me.  I hope that if you decide to give A State of Jane a read, you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.