Callie Miller was the first person I set eyes on when I arrived in Los Angeles. We spent hours at my favorite cafe talking about our passion for books and the authors who write them (among other things). But the whole time, we didn’t dare take ourselves so seriously. And at one point, a man pauses at our table, leans in and says, William Maxwell, Joan Didion, Maggie Nelson - you have wonderful taste in books. And Callie and I giggled and then all things turned to talking about Los Angeles. And that’s become an interesting pattern as of late. Talking to Callie, Rebecca, Alex. Talking. Hatching. Hmm…

So in keeping with Cali love, Callie was kind enough to interview me for LAist. Here’s a snip from our chat:

Callie Miller: Writing a personal book in the privacy of your own home is one thing - but having it out there in the world is quite another. What has it been like for you to have this book now widely available for all to read? What has surprised you the most post-publication?

Felicia Sullivan: To be frank, I thought I would be more prepared for releasing this into the world than I actually was. For the first month, I entered what my friends lovingly termed “the first book depression” – a combination of realizing that professionally, my book wasn’t going to land on bestseller lists, that I wasn’t one of the “It” girls, and personally, the fact that I would not be prepared for all the emotional craziness that would ensue. I work in publishing and I’ve been with this material for over four years, so logically I knew that people would come out of the woodwork, a multitude of questions would be asked, that the book would go out into the world like a whisper, but still. You want to show that this – your child, this super-fine thing you’ve slaved for years on, the thing you’ve watched shape and grow – is available in bookstores right now! You must read it! And in the same breath you want to tell people: here is my life, but you can have some of it, but not all of it, because then it becomes less mine. There are limits to how much access a person should have, and I worked hard to create these boundaries for myself. Yet a rare few–particularly during Q/A’s and radio interviews–want to knock those walls down.

Click here to read the rest of her thoughtful interview.

Compulsively reading: I could give a flying duck about John Updike’s tepid review of Andrew Sean Greer’s very inspired and very magical novel, The Story of a Marriage. I was riveted by Greer’s imaginatively structured debut, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and couldn’t wait to get my grubby hands on his new work. It’s safely tucked under my pillow here in Los Angeles, ready for proper ravaging. Also, if you’re looking for some great books to read, might I suggest Matthew Sharpe’s Jamestown, which is a fantasia on the Jamestown settlement of 1607, the first viable English settlement in North America, set not in the past but in an indeterminate future, some years after an unspecified cataclysmic event. Other suggested reading: Joe McGinniss Jr.’s The Delivery Man and Kiara Brinkman’s Up High in the Trees (at this point, whatever Grove publishes, I’ll buy)

Can’t believe I’ve only just discovered them!: In 2005, I found myself in a bar filled with writerly types. Unshaven boys with their hipster gait. Gals who blog and subscribe and skim all the proper magazines on all the buzzed-about books. I rushed in as I’m wont to do and gushed over a new band I had just discovered! The White Stripes! Aren’t they amazing??!!! CRICKETS. TUMBLEWEED. MONTANA. Apparently the free world had already known about this wildly famous band and I fear the same might be said for Elbow’s Asleep in the Back, the Doves’ Some Cities (”One of These Days” is on constant rotation), Death Cab for Cutie, and South’s “Paint the Silence”. Although, I’m not sure how I feel about the new Coldplay single “Violet Hill”. Yes, all hail the return of THE CRICKETS.

Presently panting over the fact that Variety is reporting from Cannes that Audrey Tautou will play famous French designer CoCo Chanel in a biopic. French screenwriter/actress Anne Fontaine will spearhead the project. As you know I’m a tragic disciple of all things Chanel. I have no shame in actually licking the windows, sobbing for the day when I can own my coveted handbag, or a structured suit, pearls et all - so you can imagine my stamping feet! my glee! (photo source) (via)

Surrounded by sweet children’s books and platters of cookies, macaroons, and brownie bits scattered about the room, last night’s event at Booksmith was a harbinger of all things to come. That sounds a little obtuse, true, but I’m starting to see the horizon (the sky!), and California is becoming a bigger part of it. The gloaming. The red dawn, so to speak. Thanks to Caroline, Kevin, Nat and the crew for coming out and bringing the hoards. Everyone left, cracked out on confections, copy of my little book in tow.

Today was all about snuggling under the duvet and catching up with a sweet friend at my L.A. mainstay, Urth Cafe. Why is always that I find myself saying that I’ll only eat half of that orange glazed pound cake but then I end up devouring it, icing and all. Tomorrow is the big day at Book Soup (please come!) and a fab reunion with the hottest dish in town.

Yesterday, you met Emira Mears, author of the must-have book that should be on any entrepreneur’s bookshelf, The Boss of You. The gals are on their whirlwind blog tour, and their giving inside dish on how they launched and grew their incredibly successful web design business. On Monday, you might have caught them chatting on Michelle’s site about making the decision to hire outside help, which can be frightening to a new business owner. Yesterday on this fine space, they gave you tips on figuring out exactly who to hire (once you’ve made that all-important decision) , and today they’re hitting Lor’s space with more scoop. I’ve begged the gals to come back this week, so who knows, they very well might return. Until then, why not buy their book?

And who is that fox trot on the cover of this month’s Craft magazine with her delish dog Lulu? Well, it’s none other than Natalie Zee, editor of craftzine, proprietor of all things coquette, and one of my dear friends. This is a girl who can arrange an impromptu baked good platter and I heart her for it. In my all-to-brief sojourn to San Francisco, I had such a lovely time yesterday with Nat, sipping noodles on Haight, talking shoes, Gossip Girl, and our big, big plans.

And special shout out to my very dear friend, Kevin Smokler, who single-handedly made my trip out to San Francisco a rave success. He’s also the kind of friend who will shake and spring a can of whoop ass on me because I never talk about “guy” stuff on my blog. Well, Mr. Kevin. Smooch Smooch. Testosterone is on the plate, chief. Consider yourself SERVED.

Emira here, one of the co-authors of The Boss of You, and guest poster at this here lovely blog while Felicia continues her world domination tour. This post is Part 2 of a four stop blog book tour we’re rolling out this week in support of the book release. For Part 1 on knowing when it’s time to hire an employee for your small business, you can visit Michelle Goodman’s Anti 9-to-5 Guide website here.

Today I’m going to talk about who to hire and I don’t mean how do you pick from that stack of awesomely qualified resumes you’ve got piled up on your desk, I’m talking about a few steps earlier in the hiring process when you sit down to figure out what kind of job description you’re looking to have filled in the first place. For some of you this may be a really simple question to answer. Say you’ve got a retail location and since you opened up last year you’ve been spending 7 days a week behind the cash register, while also doing the books, reordering, stocking shelves etc and your feet are beyond tired. If that’s you, then knowing that you need someone with retail experience to take a few shifts a week off your hands is a pretty easy answer. For others, the answer may not seem so clear.

Before you figure out what kind of position you’re hiring for you need to sit down and think about where your strengths lie. You may absolutely love the face to face contact of working in your store and be perfectly happy to be the main shop girl, while hiring someone else to take care of your bookkeeping for example. Or, if you design and make a product, you may be perfectly happy staying involved in the production end of things, and instead you can hire someone to help you pack and ship orders. Basically, what you need to do here is make two lists: one the lists out all the pieces of your business that you really love doing, and that you’re really good (and efficient) at, and then a second list of things you’ve grown tired of, were never that good at or know someone else can do better than you. The trick here for some of you will be letting go of wanting to be good at/involved in absolutely everything — afterall your business is your passion, so it’s tempting to stay wrapped up in the details, but trust a girl who has been there: that’s a quick recipe for burn out.

Once you’ve pulled together your list of skills and tasks you’re willing to pass off, you’ve got the beginnings of a job description (or maybe more than one). Take a look at how many hours you think you spend doing each of the tasks you’ve outlined and figure out what kind of a position you’re offering. Is it full time? Part time? Would it be better served by hiring someone on contract? Don’t be afraid to throw a few seemingly unrelated tasks together to make up one job description, it’s typical in a small company for employees to wear a few different hats after all. So things like “aiding with production of silk screened garments” and “packing orders for shipping” are probably fair game to fit into one position. Just make sure you’re not asking for a set of qualities so diverse you’re unlikely to find it all in one person — so “answering phones, walking my dog, and handling Public Relations” probably don’t all belong together.

Figuring out whether or not you want to hire someone on contract — or simply contract out a chunk of work like bookkeeping or manufacturing — or whether you want to hire someone is a whole other piece to consider. When we hired our first employee we weren’t totally certain whether we really had a full or part time position available, and to be honest we were really nervous about the idea of being responsible for someone else’s paycheck. So we started out with what I now think of as employer training wheels and hired someone on a part-time six month contract, just to play it safe. By the end of I’d say 3 weeks, we knew we’d want to keep that person on permanently, but it was a great way for us to ease into the extra expense and the mental shift that being bosses of someone other than our selves required. We devote a lot of space to figuring out whether staff or contractors are right for you in our book, so if those questions are coming up a lot for you, do check it out.

Tomorrow Lauren will be talking about staying true to yourself as you make the jump into being the boss of someone else over at All Things Girl. So do stay tuned!

I’m not sure what’s scarier - the fact that I’m 32 and I am totally and utterly infatuated with a show (Gossip Girl) about the scandalous lives of rich teenagers, or the fact that some blond WASP went and killed someone just to see them die, and dumb ass didn’t realize that someone’s always sporting a camera. Someone’s always committing your life to celluloid. Your partner in crime will always want to get revenge if the possibility of prison lurks. I’ve lost count of how many times I blacked out, was incapacitated - but you don’t see me going all The Shining on someone’s poor, unsuspecting ass. And maybe it’s because I saw an episode of Dynasty or two, or maybe I’ve committed all four seasons of The O.C. (boy, do I have a lot of shame) to memory, but why am I not surprised that this would totally go down?!

Update: Gawker posted the final scene and read Daily Intel’s brilliant post-game.

As you know, this is my final leg of world domination, and I’m headed out west to promote Sky. I’m jazzed for the warmer weather, clean food, and good times…and I’ll be carting along some baked goods. So if you live in the San Fran/LA area, might you pop in and say YOU ROCK, FELICIA! Key dates:

*Wednesday, May 7, 7pm—SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street
*Friday, May 9, 7pm–LOS ANGELES, CA–Booksoup This event will be at Pi Restaurant –8828 Sunset Blvd– next door to Book Soup. I’m trying to not have a stress attack because bestselling author Augusten Burroughs will be reading a block away.
*Saturday, May 10, 4pm–PASADENA, CA–Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., 4:00 pm (note the time, folks!!)

In the many years that I’ve been chronicling my goings-on in the online space, I’ve never had a “guest blogger” - it’s simply hasn’t been my bag. This blog is wholly mine, my voice, my oddities, my endless rants, however, I’ve believed in the entrepreneur gospel that Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears have been preaching and living for the past six years, and it’s inspired me to really map out what I want out of my life and the realistic steps I need to take to get there. Not only have they published the fabulous online journal, Soapbox Girls, but they’ve launched and grew a successful design business. All on their own terms. These are women who are not “talkers”, they’re walkers, doers, roll up your sleeves and let’s get to work kind of gals, and next week they’ll be here to inspire you. From their website:

The Boss of You is our attempt at filling an as-yet empty niche in the business-book world — independent-minded women running their own businesses.You might expect, as we did once, that the world would be full of books on this subject, because there are just so darned many women doing business with creativity, intelligence, and style… but the fact is, no one in the publishing world seems to have cottoned on to the fact that more and more women are heading out on their own to pursue their passions as entrepreneurs. At least, that’s what we’re hoping. We’d love nothing more than to be the first to champion what we think is the most fun you can have while making a living.

Come Wednesday, they’ll be sharing their tools of the trade, talking up their must-have book, and being their foxy selves, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.