The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Pumpkins and Witches and Ghosts, Oh My!

It's that time again... time for all you tricksters and treaters to dust off your rubber monster masks, carve up a pumpkin, and splurge on bags of miniature Hershey bars, because its... Halloween Night! In our town, the powers that be decided the kids could trick-or-treat on the actual Halloween night, and the weather is clear and should be perfect... and we live in a neighborhood great for the kids to go door-to-door for their annual begging ritual. So we are armed with candy and ready for action! My niece, who is 13, and her friends posse are coming here to make the rounds. We're hosting a pizza party for them with hot cocoa afterwards. At 13, it's probably the last time they will want to go out (by next year they will be far too sophisticated and will probably prefer going to a Starbucks to sip pumpkin lattés) so in our family it will be the end of an era - the last child's last Halloween, kid-style. We'll make the most of it and will enjoy watching all the little ones come around (the doorbell will start ringing by 4:30, I'm sure). So here's to Halloween and all the... Read more →

Mrs. Robinson in her Prime

So last night, I went to see "Prime" (Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman) in which Uma is a 37-year old just divorced patient of Meryl, who is a therapist. Uma meets a 23-year old guy and there is instant attraction, so with Meryl's encouragement to get back "out there" in the dating scene, Uma decides to give it a shot, despite her misgivings about the 14-year age gap. Soon, Uma is having the time of her life dating this very sweet younger man. Until Meryl realizes during one of their therapy sessions that Uma is dating her son! Meryl, begin a devout Jewish mother, has issues with her son dating outside his faith, but then she has the ethical issues of trying to treat a patient who is dating her son. It all makes for a very interesting situation, and I will say no more in case you decide to go see it (I haven't given away anything you wouldn't see on the movie trailer, so never fear). What I want to know is: where do I sign up to meet a nice younger guy like that? I keep hearing about all these very successful women in their 40's (Demi,... Read more →

When the bold thing to do is doing nothing at all

After a week away from the blog, which I spent fending off a nasty cold and basically sleeping or watching DVDs, I finally have the urge to write again. That's one thing about writing - you really cannot force it to happen or rush it; it has to occur organically. What's on my mind today is the nature of transitions and the uncomfortableness that goes along with making a transition from one thing to another. Whether its a work transition (changing jobs, changing careers, getting promoted, getting downsized, starting a business) or a life transition (moving into or out of a relationship, having children, having your children leave the nest, anticipating retirement, moving to a new city, state or country to start a different life), transitions mean change, and change is never comfortable even when it is change-by-choice. I'm in a transition period... but upon reflection I feel like I've BEEN in transition for about the past 10 years. Maybe what it really is, is moving from one transtion to another so quickly that it all has blurred togeter to feel like one giant transition. My current transition involves moving away from professional career/life coaching into writing. I officially have... Read more →

Franglish, anyone?

The love-hate relationship between the French and certain English-speaking nations seems to know no bounds. I'm speaking, of course, about the USA and UK, to be precise; Canada has it's own internal struggles with the Quebequois (whatever you do, don't call them "French"); and I have no idea how the Aussies and Kiwis feel about it (please write in if you know). For a brilliant commentary on the disgusting level of French-bashing in America, and why we tolerate it when we don't tolerate other hate-language, see mon ami Française-de-Cœur's post. She said it so well, I need add nothing more on that subject today. However, one of the commentors to FdC's post shared a couple of really cool Wikipedia lists that, as a writer, I wanted to share with the world (or at least the part of the world that is visiting this blog!) French phrases used by English speakers English words of French origin So, we may "love to hate" the French (don't even get me started on that, because I think it's très stupide), but we sure seem to love the language - so much so that it has become ingrained in our own language and we barely... Read more →

Playtime Paris

My "reward" for finishing my client's book draft yesterday? A little creative expression... Go here to see my artistic rendition of my goals for next year. (If you're as impatient as I am, change the speed on the drawing to FAST or just skip to the end.) No need to flatter me about my talent... any competent 5 year old could have done the same with some fingerpaints and a model of La Tour Eiffel. Read more →

Happy feet

It's done! I finished it and delivered it to the client (well, the first full draft, which was the big hurdle to get over). I can't believe it. I am so freakin' relieved right now. And a full day ahead of schedule, with a nasty chest cold, too. Can I get a high 5 and an "Amen" please? Can you see me from where you're sitting? I'm doing my happy feet dance right now! (If I could figure out a way to get the blog to channel some of that piano music from the Peanuts Charlie Brown Christmas, I would. In the meantime, use your imaginations...) Lessons lived and learned: Never agree to write a book if the person hasn't at least written down a lot of their own ideas and thoughts for the book, in their own words. Otherwise it's like you are writing the book all by yourself, with only your own ideas for fuel, and if you're going to do that, you might as well put your own name on the cover and get the credit. Never sell yourself short. I not only underestimated the work effort for this, but I WAY undercharged for my time. Tell... Read more →

Baby, it's cold...

Well, I have no idea how this happened but I caught a cold. I am normally a very healthy person and rarely get sick, so catching a cold is a big annoyance -- especially for someone who is self-employed and therefore gets no paid sick leave! And I can't even blame it on being exposed to sick customers at the pharmacy since I no longer work there. Damn. Please, can I take a nap now? (Or would that just be an other excuse to procrastinate on that writing project?) Today, I'm not feelin' so very bold, so sign me - The Wednesday Whining Writer Read more →

Procrastination 101

When you've got a job or project to do, and you don't want to do it, how many ways do YOU manage to procrastinate? I think I've managed an all-time record for heel-dragging on a particular writing project - I've been "working on this" for about 5 months now. And my growing repertoire of "anything is better than working on THIS" tricks now includes: clean the bathroom make a cup of coffee wash the outside of all the windows in the house (fortunately it's only a 1-story house because I hate ladders) make a cup of tea play any game I can find on Zone.msn.com - last night I wasted over 2 hours doing this instead of writing get a glass of water go shopping, and make sure I buy at least one thing I will not want or that will not fit properly so I later have an excuse to return it drive around town to do errands like banking and returning things I've previously purchased but now do not want get a couple of cookies with some milk take a walk around the neighborhood get another cup of coffee talk to my grandmother about her moving into assisted... Read more →

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Dating, in general terms, has a lot in common with three other frustrating but necessary activities in life: job hunting, swimsuit shopping and bra shopping. They are all very aggravating and often humiliating ways to spend your time; while you are doing them, you can think of about 100 things you would rather be doing with your time - like root canal or scrubbing behind the toilet; and you must be willing to get out there and take risks in the short term if you want to get a good result in the long run. Every one of these scenarios is basically a "try before you buy" situation; you are trying things on for size, looking for the best overall "fit", and your goal is to come away with a "keeper", not a temp thing or something that will fall apart when it hits the water. Dating, the way we think of it in America, is pretty much a modern-day thing. I'm told by people from other countries that young people there don't really "date", and instead they tend to hang out with groups of friends and end up meeting people through group activities before pairing up. Older singles tend... Read more →

Monkey in the Middle

Question: What do you do when two people in your life can't be around each other at all -- for very good reasons -- and you want to maintain a relationship with both of them? Answer: You become the monkey in the middle. I am in a situation where someone I love a lot is very upset with me for being in contact with someone else that the person I love dislikes quite a bit. (Did you follow all that?) More than "quite a bit", actually, and the reasons are wholly justified. My being in contact with this other person is apparently more painful to my loved one than I had initially realized, and it is now clear to me that my actions are seen by some as disloyal and a betrayal, even though this was never my intention. And I don't know what to do about it, because NOT being in contact with the second person is not an option for me. What do you do when life circumstances require you to be in relationship with someone - whether for family reasons, business reasons, personal reasons, romantic reasons or ANY reasons - and that relationship upsets the apple cart... Read more →