I'm a Hollywood Nobody Somebody

Lisa Samson is mostly known for her award-winning adult contemporary fiction, but it's no surprise to anyone who's read her books that her teen-centric novel, Hollywood Nobody, won the Christy Award in the Young Adult category earlier this month. I had the fun privilege of critiquing that book before it was published (not that Lisa needs much in the way of critique). When it came time to plot the sequel, Finding Hollywood Nobody, Lisa put out a request for suggested settings--places with a unique personality to enhance the action--and I nominated my little East Texas town.

That's how I ended up hosting Lisa and her daughter in our home for several days, shuttling her around town, introducing her to shop owners, exploring buildings, taking lots of pictures, and discovering some of our town's secrets I'd never known before. We had a blast!

Then, imagine my delight when I received the manuscript for critique and discovered she'd named characters for all my family members. And the character with my name looks like me, dresses like me, and sounds a lot like me. Wow! How fun is that?

Yeah. So, I'm a Hollywood Nobody Somebody. May be my greatest claim to fame ever.

If you haven't read Lisa's books, I encourage you to check out this series. You'll love spunky Scotty Dawn, a sixteen year old who travels from movie set to movie set in an RV with her food-stylist mom, and gets to know some of the hottest stars most of us only day-dream about--all while hiding from some secret danger no one is willing to explain to her. You'll meet lots of fascinating characters, and--kind of, sort of--you'll even run into me. :)