I feel so grateful for all the support I've received over the last year-and-a-half on my column that I wanted to do something different this week. Give back. Help a fellow artist get her voice heard.
So, instead of sharing a story about me I'd like to use my column to promote a friend of mine—actress and now author, Jamie Rose.
You might recognize Jamie from her years of success as an actress in television and film, but now my extremely talented and stunningly beautiful friend has added "author" to her resume. And I couldn't be more proud!
Jamie has always been such a smart and inspirational woman so when she told me she was writing a book I was not only impressed but I couldn't wait to read it.
Well, it's out, it's FANTASTIC and it's hard to believe this is my pal's first book.
Shut Up and Dance is Jamie's personal journey of discovering how to be a better partner to her husband by learning how to be a partner on the dance floor.
Apparently, the answer to men and women relating to each other lies in none other than... The Tango.
That's right. What started as a simple interest in learning this sexy, mysterious dance turned into a life changing experience for Jamie and she's chronicled her story in this debut self help book.
I admit, I have read lots of self-help relationship books. The entire Men are from Mars series (my ex husband and I hoped it would save us—uh, guess the "ex" answers that), "Too Good to Leave, Too Bad To Stay" (I left), "Getting the Love You Want" (I didn't), etc.
Now, all these books haven't been a total bust—I always try to leave any experience a little wiser, but the truth is none of those books really held my attention or spoke to me in a way I found entertaining and inspiring.
Jamie's book does. Her humor, honesty, hunger to change and stubborness to stay the same completely held my attention.
I didn't feel like I was being taught or lectured as I read Shut Up and Dance. Instead, I felt like I was listening to a really engaging story and by the end of it I had not only learned about that person but volumes about myself.
Not to mention The Tango!
Jamie has written a great book and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in growing... even just a little.
I suppose with the holiday season I thought it would be a great time to spread the word about Shut Up and Dance and also give anyone else out there who might be sitting on a book idea a little hope.
Jamie had no idea when she told her best friend she had an idea for a book that a little over a year later it would be published and sitting on bookshelves everywhere. And it would've been sooner but those first 9 months were spent procrastinating—can anyone relate?
Jamie learned how to write a book proposal by reading a book called, you guessed it, How to Write a Non Fiction Book Proposal and she literally figured out what she was doing as she went along.
The hardest part she said? Getting past the fear that she didn't know what she was doing and that whatever she was writing had to be amateurish and unreadable.
BOY WAS SHE WRONG.
I love stories like this. Stories of people finding a way to believe in themselves just enough to see a dream through.
So, here's to my friend, Jamie Rose. And to all you out there thinking you can't possibly write a book, or a blog, or a script or any other dream you may have... I say just go for it. There is no right or wrong... only never trying.
(If you'd like to meet and hear Jamie read from her book she will be performing at the on Tujunga Avenue on Sunday, Dec. 11.) Her website is: www.jamierosestudio.com.
