20 Times Press

NEW REVIEW AT THE TOP — Miu von Furstenberg from A Socialite's Life...

I don't mean to bombard you with posts about the new book, but it seems to be all that's going on in my life right now! (Well, that and I just learned that my mom was almost a Playboy Bunny. More on that later, though.)

While 20 Times is just getting out there in the US, it seems to be taking the UK by storm! My UK editor at Transworld said the book has been featuring in The Bookseller's "Heatseeker" Chart at around #5 for a couple of weeks now. Heatseekers are authors who haven't yet made it into the actual bestseller list.

To all the Brits reading this... I'll donate $1,000 to a much beloved UK charity if my book makes it onto the bestseller's list, so BUY THE BOOK PLEASE! And tell all your friends to BUY THE BOOK PLEASE, TOO! And then, when you're done buying the book, send me an email telling me what your favorite charity is.

And to my fellow Americans... (OMG, I totally just felt like the President when I typed that.) Are you going to let one of your own become a bestseller in the UK before here?!! It can't happen! (Totally kidding, of course it can—Brits, you go out and buy that book!—but you know what I mean.) Help a girl out and post the names of the most popular radio shows in your city so I can work it and get myself some American press.

Okay, to summarize...

"20 Times a Lady is the book of the summer! I devoured it from cover to cover while reminiscing about my own previous relationship hits and misses."
—Miu von Furstenberg from A Socialite's Life

"Don’t hate yourself in the morning for reading this book and liking it. It’s as irresistible as a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and goes down as easily. Laugh-out-loud encounters with old flames end in hilarious flameouts. The lively pace and outlandish story will keep readers hooked, but don’t skip the footnotes."
—Kaite Mediatore Stover for Booklist (US)

"A fast, funny and very enjoyable love story/road-trip novel. Whilst you may be able to predict how the book will end, you won't predict how Delilah gets there- and that's the mark of a good writer. The book speeds along, and there's a lot of surprises on the way to a happy ending. I loved the fact that the main character is a risk-taker, not afraid to seem stupid- and brave in sharing her feelings. And I frequently found myself snorting with laughter at her remarks!

After loving Save Karyn so much, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a novel by the same author—would the same big, sunny personality come across in a work of fiction? I'm happy to say it does! Delilah seems heavily based on Karyn's own personality and I think that's why she 's so likeable. But as to how much the experiences (and experience) Delilah has is based on reality, I guess only Ms Bosnak will ever know for sure..."
—Diane Shipley for Transhionista (UK)

"Chick-lit with bells on!"
—Nottingham Evening Post (UK)


Named Twenty Times a Lady a "Glam Read." "Delilah always vowed never to sleep with more than 20 men. But now she's reached her target without finding Mr. Right, so she revisits her exes with hilarious results."
—British Glamour (UK)

"A comedy of errors, a real page-turner and so entertaining. In fact, it's like having a best friend you can totally relate to, and it almost feels as though you've been jolted into the reality of your past! Many women will identify with Delilah's crazed search, so I'm recommending this book to everyone!"
—Amanda Holden, celebrity bookworm who chose Twenty Times a Lady as the Book of the Month for Aero Book Club and New Woman magazine (UK)

"Sassy and fun, who doesn't love a good romp?"
—OK! magazine (UK)



"Making her fiction debut, Bosnak writes with a keen eye for comedy. Absolutely hilarious... [20 Times a Lady] deserves a place on all shelves."
—Library Journal (US)

"A positive message on taking risks and owning up to one's mistakes. Frequently funny... saucy chick-lit.""
—Kirkus Reviews (US)

"A zany American tale that takes you into the self-conscious world of a delusional young lady who has decided that 20 is the magic number for her."
—Western Daily Press (UK)

"In her younger days Delilah decided she would stop at her 20th sexual partner. Now 29, she is on No 19 and gets a big shock when she reads an article that tells her she has had almost double the amount of men as the average woman. With this depressing news Delilah decides to revisit her past "loves"–just to make sure she hasn't missed The One. But the question is, can you put a number on love?"
—The Sun (UK)

"When most people suddenly find themselves unemployed because of massive company layoffs, their first thought is to secure a new position ASAP. Not Delilah Darling. She instead sets off on a cross-country road trip... in an effort to locate all her past boyfriends, all in the name of not raising her already high number of lovers above a self-imposed limit.

Her theory is that if she has already slept with them, then it won't count if she hooks up and settles down with one of the best of the bunch for the rest of her life. Therefore, she would stop the clock at a "respectable" number, at least by New York Post sex-survey standards. The problem is, Delilah dated a number of real losers, and time and age have not remedied that fact.

The trip becomes a comedic mess as she vows to make the best of her second chances and to leave no stone unturned among the 20 former lovers. She will go to any length to make these "new" relationships work until she finally finds that love doesn't keep count and maybe relationships shouldn't be limited to just your number of fingers and toes."
—Tampa Tribune (US)

Love, Sex, & My Ex Contest Winner Delayed

Coming later today! Along with Chicago book signing recap and more!

PS - In case you're wondering, I'm late with everything I do, going all the way back to making credit card payments. I've tried to fix this flaw of mine, but it's essentially what brought me success, so I go with it now and try to do the best I can. Ha ha...

Seriously though, I read somewhere that people who are late are subconsciously trying to tell others that they're the ones who are in control of the situation at hand. I want you to know that this is in NO WAY the case with me, that my lateness is due to a complete lack of organization mixed with a little bit of ADD and a little bit of OCD. (The ADD and OCD are undiagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I have both.) Hmmm... a similarity between myself and the main character of my new book, Delilah Darling. Don't be so sure what you're reading is fiction. Wink, wink.

PPS - One more thing... if you really like me, you'll accept my lateness flaw and flightiness and still continue to read my blog and books. After all, this kookiness helps when writing posts and books which is why I don't try to fix it.

PPPS - When my editor Alison reads the above post, she will probably forward it to everyone she works with at HarperCollins with a sarcastic (but loving) remark like, "Hmmm... Karyn's late with everything she does. You don't say..." (I turned in my book just a wee bit late.) Love you Ali Cali.

Confession: My Own PostSecret

To those who know and love PostSecret, I stumbled across a site where you can post your own anonymous secret without having to make an artsy little postcard. Here's a link. I found out about it from my blogging friend, Tales of a Southern Girl in the Windy City.

I posted the following secret on the site (so I guess it's not really a secret anymore), so I'm hoping you'll all fess up and post a secret of your own in the comments section of this post.

PS - I'm not proud of the following secret, but it feels good to get it off of my chest. Here goes...

My Taiwan-to-New York Flight Secret
by Karyn Bosnak

I once pretended to be asleep on a 19-hour plane ride from Taiwan to New York so I wouldn't have to share my row with an old lady whose row was full and seat wouldn't recline. I know this isn't a big secret or anything, but I still feel bad about it because the lady looked really uncomfortable crammed in her chair and I had a whole row to myself, all three seats. Throughout the flight, the woman kept getting up and walking past my row (I was spying from the corner of my eye), looking for an opportunity to ask me if she could come sit by me. When one didn't present itself, she shook my feet, hoping to wake me up, but I ignored her and "snored" more loudly.

While I was lying there in my seat row, I pretty much convinced myself that God was going to strike the plane down to teach me a lesson for being so selfish, but then I realized that he wouldn't do something like that to the old lady because I had just screwed her over, you know what I mean? Like imagine if you were her... not only did you get stuck with a shitty seat while a perfectly-abled young lady (me) got to spread out in three, but on top of that, your plane crashes. I mean, God would never do that to her; she seemed so nice.

The really screwed up thing about all this is that, in some strange way, I felt like the fact that I screwed over this woman ensured that the plane would arrive in New York safely. Like my selfish actions saved everyone on the flight. Crazy, I know.

The woman was eventually able to find a better seat, so I felt less guilty about what I had done, but still... it wasn't very nice.

Anyway, that's my secret. I feel bad about it, but at the same time I can't help but to wonder... if I were put in the same situation tomorrow, would I do it again?

What would you have done?

Chicago Book Signing Update 2

Hello everyone! I uploaded all of my pictures from the book signing (and then some!) to my laptop, but I can't get my laptop online while at my mom's house and I don't feel like trekking all the way to Starbucks right now to do so. (No offense - you know I love you all, but I don't like to drive.)

I fly back to New York tomorrow, so check back on Sunday for a full update. I don't want to gyp you on the update, and that will give me adequate time to write a good one.

Xx, Karyn

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

Book Signing Update 1

Okay, so I'm slightly hung over right now and will give you an update about the book signing with pictures later today. Quickly though, it was great and I had so much fun!

Chicago Book Signing

***REMINDER***
***UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM***

I have a book signing TODAY in Chicago. Here are the details:

Who: Karyn Bosnak
What: Book Signing for 20 Times a Lady
Where: Barbara's Bookstore at Marshall Field's State Street, 111 North State Street, Lower Level, Chicago, IL
When: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - Noon
Why: Because it's MY HOMETOWN!

BB's website says it's a "Book Signing Only," which I suppose means that I won't do a reading. (But I may sing and breakdance.)

Come, come! Please come!

Fun people who will be in attendance...

• My sister
  
• My beautiful niece Nora
• My mom, the almost-Playboy-Bunny (Funny story for tomorrow...)
• My best frend Naomi
• Naomi's daughters Sidney & Sam
• Paula, a fabulous family friend a fellow dog-lover
  
• My cousin Shelly who is due to give birth at any moment (Things could get exciting!)
• 
  My cousin Katie who was a cheerleader in college (MEN - She's tall, skinny, blonde, and SINGLE!)
• Corey, one of my very best friends
• Corey's beautiful daughter Whitney
• My Uncle Hank (After he read the back of the book he said, "Twenty? Sheesh... maybe by the time I finished high school." Ladies, he's 66 and SINGLE!)
• Brian, an old friend who took me to see The Color Purple
• Julie, a high school friend, former roommate, smart attorney, and loving mother of two beautful boys
  
• The FABULOUS girl Michelle who purchased my Gucci bucket purse during the SaveKaryn.com saga and then let me keep it (She will hopefully be there... she may have to go out of town)
• Jen Lancaster, author of Bitter is the New Black and smart gal behind Jennsylvania.com
• Cami, my blogging friend and soon-to-be bride
• Pearce, a college friend who was in the first book
• Ron, a college friend who promised to run through Marshall Field's naked screaming, "Karyn, I'm your number one fan!"
• If Ron doesn't do the above, I'm hoping my friend Mike will.
• And... NUKES! (On the cover of the book you'll see that one of the guys is named "Nukes." The real Nukes will be in attendance.)
• Joe, a friend from high school AND college, is really excited to be coming and might even wake up.

People who will NOT be making an appearance...

• Mike Ditka, I called him and was like, "Yo, bitch, you coming to my book signing today at Fields?" And he was like, "Who in the hell is this?" When I told him, he started swearing, said something like, "Yeah, in your dreams, pansy," and then hung up.
• Mayor Daley, see Mike Ditka conversation above
• Michael Jordan, see Mike Ditka conversation above
• Oprah Winfrey, see Mike Ditka conversation above

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicize my friend's business... VIP Sports Marketing. Please give them your business!

I'm a Special, Special Girl

I want to put an image in your head...

I got my teeth cleaned this morning and had an itty bitty cavity that needed to be filled so I got a shot of novocaine in my mouth. (Note: My step-dad is a dentist so I therefore have impeccable oral hygiene and don't know how this happened.) Because of the novocaine, the left side of my mouth is droopy, and I've been speaking with a lisp and drooling. On top of this, I'm wearing an enormous pair of sneakers that look like orthopedic shoes and I keep tripping in them.

Now, I would never, ever, ever make fun of people who are mentally-challenged——I have a mentally-challenged person in my family and he's a better person than most people I know——but I seriously look like I have some kind of palsy.

But here's the thing: I think it's kind of cool. I find that the older I get, the more I embrace my shortcomings, so I don't mind looking like this. In fact, I hope my face stays like this for my book-signing in Chicago tomorrow. Can you imagine? Random people will walk by me and be like, "Gosh... what a gal! She's accomplished so much... considering her limitations and all." Yes! That would be cool...

Later, if you're lucky, I might even tell you about my lazy eye.

Love, Sex, & My Ex Winner - Week 5

Hate to Help
by Claire Adams Williams

In May of 2005, Claire, a travel writer, was sleeping in a hotel room in Beijing. She was wearing the t-shirt of a recently departed ex—a white and red Minnesota Math Masters t-shirt. It was soft, and was somewhat special to Him, and Claire liked sleeping in it.

Or so she thought.

In the middle of the night, Claire woke up sweating, and was confused as to why. Although Beijing is hot in May, it's not hot when the air conditioner in your room is set at 61 degrees. After ruling out early menopause as being the culprit, Claire began thinking more deeply about the ex and suddenly realized what was making her hot: it was His t-shirt. But it wasn't its thin cotton fabric that was stifling her. Indeed, it was the concept of wearing something of her ex-boyfriend's.

Claire got out of bed, removed the t-shirt and threw it on the floor. After putting on a cooler tank top—one with no negative associations attached to it whatsoever—Claire went back to bed and quickly fell asleep. The next morning, when she awoke well-rested, she evaluated what had happened the night before and quicly realized what she needed to do: she needed to get rid of the t-shirt. With that, Claire grabbed it from where it was still lying on the floor, walked outside, and gave it to a man with a messed-up leg who was begging outside a museum. It was then and there that the "HateToHelp Global Karma Project" began.

Since this one fateful day in May, Claire has given away every last thing that this particular boyfriend has ever given her to random needy and non-needy people around the world...

• She has packed bags of His old toiletry products and scouted the streets of Buenos Aires, searching for an appropriately unclean-looking beggar to pass them along to.
• She has healthily burned the loving inscriptions He wrote inside old books and left the rest of the usable reading material along the South African coast.
• She has thrown His old rings into the Indian Sea.
• She has graciously put His old stereo equipment in the "free" box of a garage sale in Mexico.

"Get rid of it to get over it," is what Claire believed.

Over time, as Claire's friends began finding out about her campaign, they began to talk... "She must be kind of crazy," they'd say behind her back. However, when they realized what was happening, that giving away an old ex's crap certainly wasn't hurting anyone, they began to laugh. "Heck," they started saying, "if doing this can make people feel better about exes and at the same time give needy people usable stuff, then it's not that bad of an idea."

Just as more people started finding out about Claire's HateToHelp Global Karma Project, Claire ran out of stuff from Him and began expanding. She went further back in time to other ex-boyfriends who had dumped her, and she got rid of their sh*t, too. She then started thinking of guys even she had dumped, and also got rid of their stuff. As this feng-shui-ing continued, Claire started giving away stuff that wasn't even from ex-boyfriends...

• She got rid of everything she didn't need.
• She got rid of other people's stuff they didn't need.
• She got rid of cupcakes she had made on a particularly boring day of writing.

In short, Claire took her own and other people's old negative-energy-ridden crap, crap from ex-boyfriends and ex-bosses, and found interesting people to give it to, people who could use it. By doing this, Claire turned pain and tears into blog-worthy anecdotes, and, at the same time, produced slightly better-dressed homeless people around the world.

Claire and her friend Lara are now traveling the world for a year in efforts to give the crap of bad exes (and yes, even some good exes) to people everywhere who need it more. They like to think of themselves as "karmic cleaners"... or at least two girls who are really just bored out of their minds as they travel the globe. Give Claire and Lara your stuff. Or just write them and say hi. They can help you get over that ex.

You can read more about the HateToHelp Global Karma Project at www.HateToHelp.blogspot.com.

You can visit them and learn about their travels at www.trippingonwords.blogspot.com.

You can also email them at HateToHelp@gmail.com. They'll be sure to respond—they really don't have anything better to do.

FROM KARYN: I stumbled upon Claire and Lara's website a few months ago and got sucked into it. If you've ever traveled the world or have gone to a foreign land with a friend, you'll be sure to love it as reading about their journies will bring back loads of memories.

The reason I chose Claire's story this week is because we all hang on to stuff from exes. Sometimes doing so is healthy and sometimes it's not. When you're done reading this, I challenge you to get rid of something that you've been holding on to, something that you know is an unhealthy attachment to an ex. Since I'm traveling right now and can't get rid of anything tangible, I'm going to delete a certain ex from my MySpace page, as well as take him off my IM list. It's hard to move on when you keep reminders around.

Tell me about what you've done in the comments section. Let's all move on together!

To My Gentlemen Readers

Or, to my lady readers with gentlemen friends...

While one would classify 20 Times a Lady as being "chick-lit," I've been hearing from others that men are enjoying the book as well, particularly the male perspective that's in it. With that said, if you've read the book and enjoyed it, please pass it along to some of your male friends and force them (preferably with a hefty pair of numchucks) to read it as well. If they do and if they like it too, please have them send me an email and tell me about it. I'd love to hear what they have to say about the subject of numbers, etc.

Traveling

I'm in Chicago right now, staying with at my mom's house, and I've been unable to connect my computer to the internet. Even worse, my BlackBerry works, but as a phone only, so I can't retrieve my emails because the signal isn't strong enough.

Oh, the suburbs... I feel helpless.

Anyway, I'm working on her s-l-o-w computer right now (dial-up, anyone?), but everything I need to upload and publish is on mine (like the week 5 winner of the Love, Sex, & My Ex Contest), so I'll be heading out to a Starbucks and logging on from there later today, so check back in a few hours. Sorry for the delay!

Lindsay Lohan

I had a dream last night that I kissed Lindsay Lohan, and now I have a mad girl-crush on her.

I've never been a big fan, but look at her over there...

<-----

...she's kinda fierce.

20 Times is the Aero Book Club Pick!

Amanda Holden has chosen 20 Times a Lady as the July book of the month for the Aero Book Club! Yay!

For those of you who don't know, Amanda Holden is a popular British actress. I wrote a post about her a couple weeks ago. Here's a link.

Amanda said, "Bosnak's style of writing is very similar to Australian writer Kathy Lette. The story's a comedy of errors, a real page-turner and so entertaining. In fact, it's like having a best friend you can totally relate to, and it almost feels as though you've been jolted into the reality of your past! Many women will identify with Delilah's crazed search, so I'm recommending this book to everyone!"

Thank you, Amanda! I can barely contain my excitement. I mean, what if Becks reads my book?



What if Posh reads my book?

Wait, scratch that—we all know Posh can't read.



(Maybe Becks will read it to her now that he's gonna have more free time.)

OMG, what if WILLS reads it? (Harry would have to read it first and then give it to him—Harry is much cooler.)



AND THEN WHAT IF THE QUEEN READS IT?!



And then what if she talks about it with people like JK Rowling?!



Which can only mean that...





If all this happens, then I will have succeeded in my quest to corrupt all that is pure and good.

Yesssssssssssss!

Anyway, the Aero Book Club is a part of New Woman magazine. Buy it!

PREVIOUSLY: Amanda Holden, My New Favourite Brit

Piss Off

I woke up early and I'm watching 9 to 5 right now staring Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda. It's one of my favorite movies of all times. Lily Tomlin is so amazing in it. I love the scene where she's in the hospital because she thinks she's killed Mr. Hart, and she steals a body that she thinks is his. A candy striper comes up to her in the middle of it all and she tells them to "piss off." I love that phrase—it's so something my mom would say. I'm going to start to say it more often.

"Ah... piss off."

Love, Sex, & My Ex Contest Winner - Week 4

The Rule of Thumb
by Kristen Hammack

During my sophomore year in college, my roommates and I thought it would be fun to check out the online dating websites. Through doing this, I ended up meeting a guy named Stan. Stan was really nice and, after chatting online for awhile, we decided to go out on a date. Over the course of a month or so, we ended up going out a few times, but eventually things ended between us.

The last date that Stan and I had took place at a comedy club. The show was pretty good, and when it was over, we decided to pick up a movie and go back to my dorm room. After popping in the tape, we both crammed our bodies into my X-long twin bed and things got a little frisky. Stan and I kissed and touched each other and eventually decided to have sex. We both got naked and started going through the motions. Stan was on top and everything seemed to be fine, but then suddenly, he stopped what he was doing and sat on the edge of the bed with his back facing me. Apparently Stan was nervous and not... ready... so he was trying to "assist himself" so we could continue. After realizing it was taking an awfully long time, I sat up to see if I could "help." Eager to get back to things, I quickly reached over with my right hand, but then stopped short of touching his penis when I realized that it was the exact same size as my thumb. Without thinking, I instantly retracted my hand, laid back down on the bed and said, "You know what? Maybe we should do this another time. I need to get to bed." I'm pretty sure the shock of what I had just seen was plastered all over my face, and I'm pretty sure Stan knew that we'd never see each other again. He put his clothes on and left.

The next morning, as I was telling my roommates about the fiasco, I described him as being "thumb d*ck," and from that point on, that's been his name. If I happen to pass a place we went to, I'd say, "Oh, 'thumb d*ck' and I went to that restaurant." Or when I'm at the video store I say, "Oh, 'thumb d*ck' and I saw that movie." As I said earlier, that night was the last date thumb d*ck and I ever had, and I never saw him or his thumb d*ck again.

From Karyn... Yay Kristen! Your book is on it's way.

The reason I picked Kristen's story this week is that I'm sure we've all had a small penis experience, but more than that, I want to know some of the nicknames that all of you have given the guys you've dated.

As for me, there's "Dumb Boy"... he was younger than me and very naive.

There's also "The Fat Guy"... I actually really like him and didn't care that he was fat.

As for "Dan Dan the Earring Man"... I left my earrings in his dorm room and never saw them (or him) again. (DDTEM was one of my shorter *cough* one night *cough* relationships.)

So spill...

Join My UNICEF Team... There's an INCENTIVE!

Join my UNICEF Team! I've donated $1,000 to UNICEF and I'm looking for you to match it. That's $5 from 200 people.

The first person to donate $100 gets to be my co-captain.

UPDATE: Mindy Hupp is my Co-Captain!

From my donation alone, the team is #3 right now. Let's give those Clay Aiken fans a run for their money! Show 'em that people who like to shop and charge things have a heart, too!

Here's a link: http://www.unicefusa.org/ert/savekaryn

And here's the INCENTIVE: As many of you know, I've donated the money I received from the initial Save Karyn site to charity. As an ongoing thing, I'm going to challenge YOU to donate the same amount that I've given, hence doubling the amount I was initially given. If this works, together we will have donated about $30,000 to charity. That's something, huh?

Other than the joy you'll receive simply from giving, every time your donations reach $1,000, I will track down one of the "numbers" on my list—one of my exes or a one-night-stand (not that I've that many one-night-stands...hee hee)—like the main character in my new book does, and write about it. Why would I do something like this? Well, I was thinking about doing something like this anyway as a fun promotion for the new book, but then I thought why not make you work for it and why not tie it to a good cause? This is what life is. We're here to help each other, we're here to inspire each other, and we're here to laugh—aren't we?

For those of you who don't know, the main character in my book 20 Times a Lady is freaked out upon realizing that she's had sex with 20 men, so she tracks down all of her exes with the hopes of settling down with the best of the bunch. She doesn't simply call all these guys though, she tracks them down "stalker-style," bumping into them here and there, making it look like a coincidence. Life for example, one of them is in rehab so she checks herself in—get it?

I realize that not everyone cares about my love life, and I also want to make it clear that I am NOT A STALKER, but I do think there's a certain amount of comedy in me doing ANYTHING because I really am a complete moron.

So the challenge is on. I've donated $1,000 to UNICEF. Match it, get personal joy from giving to people who need it, then get more joy/laughter/pity/insert your own word here watching me track down an ex. All we need is 200 people to give $5. C'mon... open those pockets. You did for me once... do it for UNICEF... do it for YOU.